


searching for that broken moon's other half

by Otpismyoxygen



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fake Marriage, Fake fiance, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, as usual chanyeol is disgustingly in love, chanbaek are CEOs, fluff and sap is my brand, so much sap, well chanyeol is soon-to-be CEO
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-07-29 21:40:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 61,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16272890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otpismyoxygen/pseuds/Otpismyoxygen
Summary: Chanyeol needed to find someone who would agree to become his fiance in order for him to get the CEO position in his family company. What were the chances that his first love, who he kicked out of town ten years ago, would agree to his proposal?





	1. the first meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is originally my entry for BAE2018 but I ended up dropping out bcs ugh life was crazy (and still crazy rn gdi). This was prompt #1104, btw. Thank you bae mods for allowing me to adopt this prompt  
> So, this is a chaptered fic. Please expect weekly update, or maybe once every two weeks. This story is really fun to write so I hope all of you will love it.  
> Let's enjoy chanbaek in love~  
> P.S: the back and forth between the past and present day only happen at this chapter. don't worry.

 

 

 

_~10 Years Ago~_

_This is a nightmare._

Baekhyun must have had the shittiest luck in the world. He couldn’t believe that out of all five hundred students in his school, his parents had to work for Park Chanyeol. _The_ Park Chanyeol. The insanely good looking, popular senior--a total opposite of Baekhyun--Park Chanyeol.

Baekhyun had always known that Chanyeol was rich, but to think that he had a house that resemble a freaking castle? Could he not be any more perfect than he already was? Handsome, athletic, smart, and rich. Some people were born with too much of the God’s favor, it seemed. And obviously, Baekhyun wasn’t one of them.

As he now tried to move all the things he had into his new room--in the Parks’ residence--he let a heavy sigh escaped his mouth. His new room was located in the basement, at the most corner part of the house. While Chanyeol’s room was on the second floor; the second biggest room, Baekhyun’s mom revealed to him earlier. Not that Baekhyun was disappointed over the fact that their rooms were so far away. If anything, he didn’t want to crosspath with the football athlete at all. He could imagine how the tall 18 years old boy would mock him to death, for being a servant’s son.

It wasn’t that it was a secret in his school that Baekhyun was poor. Everyone knew that his parents were servants. His mother was a maid, and his father was a gardener. But it wasn’t a big of a deal because he wasn’t the only poor students in his school. But those other “poor students” never had Park Chanyeol as their employer. Well, not Chanyeol himself, more like his rich parents, but still.

Baekhyun refused to believe that there was a social hierarchy in his school. But if there was actually one, Chanyeol would be definitely at the top. He was the _ruler_ of the school. He basically owned it, figuratively speaking. He knew people adore him, that was why he was being a jerk about it, rubbing it on everyone’s face that he was above them all.

Baekhyun scoffed. _Own the school, my ass_. Baekhyun never cared about the jock, but now that he was living under the same roof as him, it was a different story. Somehow, he knew that his life would change forever from now on, and it wouldn’t be for the better.

Baekhyun looked around his new room. It was small but definitely much better than his old room in their previous shoddy apartment. As he laid his back on his brand new bed, Baekhyun thought this couldn’t be that bad…

_Right?_

 

 

 

~ _Present day_ ~

“What did you just say?”

Chanyeol had always known that his stepfather was a complete dickhead, but not to the point of a freaking shitbag. If Chanyeol’s hearing hadn’t failed him a few seconds ago, or his brain hadn’t registered a wrong meaning from what his stepdad had said, Chanyeol truly just heard that the shitbag would retire from his position as the CEO of this company their family owned--more like Chanyeol’s biological father’s company--and he would have his own biological son to take over this company. Not Chanyeol--the biological son of the _real_ owner of this company.

“You heard me, son. I plan to retire and have Minki to take over this company,” the sixty years old man said, sitting on his black leather chair with the sign of his name on his glass desk. His face that Chanyeol hated so much sported a slight sly grin.

 _Fucking bastard_.

Chanyeol closed his eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to show that this matter affected him so much in front of his stepdad, step brother Lee Minki, and the general manager of their company, Mr. Woo. When Chanyeol opened his eyes again, he had calmed down a little. If he was still the hot-tempered himself from ten years ago, he would  surely already blow up right now. “Okay, first, don’t call me son, Minhyuk. Second--what in the ever-living fuck?--you seriously choose Minki to be the CEO?”

“Language, Chanyeol,” Minki muttered under his breath.

“Shut up, Minki” Chanyeol snapped to his step brother, then turned his attention back to the CEO. “Now, tell me why? Is it because he’s your beloved son?”

Minhyuk rose from his seat. “You know that I’m not playing favorite here, right, Chanyeol? I just thought the best for our company.”

 _Our company._ Chanyeol really hated it when his stepdad said that phrase. This was the company that his father built from dust. But after his dad passed away and his mother moved on to the wrong kind of man, the company fell onto this man’s lap. The very man in front of Chanyeol right now. The exact definition of an asshole.

Chanyeol loved his mom, don’t get him wrong, but he couldn’t help but cursed her every day. How can she fell onto this man’s trap was beyond him.

“Tell me why he’s more qualified than me, then?” Chanyeol gritted his teeth. He really barely hung on a thread here, his emotion spilled over.

The old man stuttered. Chanyeol was challenging him to answer with the true reasons, since the pure general manager was here. And the retiring CEO knew well that he couldn’t say any bullshits like Minki did better because every single person in the company knew that Chanyeol was much, much better than Minki. So really, Chanyeol was looking forward to hear what kind of shit his stepdad would say to fool the general manager.

Minhyuk cleared his throat before speaking. “You’re excellent at your job, son. But Minki, he’s calmer than you. That’s a good trait for a boss. Besides…”

Chanyeol tried so hard to not crack a smile. As expected, his stepdad never disappointed him in term of being ridiculous with his reasons. This was probably the only side of his stepdad that Chanyeol didn’t hate to his gut. Him being stupidly stupid like the true stupid man he was.

“Go on,” Chanyeol urged him to continue, stifling his amused smile.

“Minki already has a fiance.”

_Uh, what?_

Chanyeol’s brows furrowed. “Did I miss something here? Is there a requirement that says a CEO should have a fiance?”

Minhyuk waved his hand like he was trying to shrug it off. "Not like that. What I mean is, Minki's fiance is a daughter of ZT Oil. If they got married and Minki became the CEO, imagine how it would be profitable for our company? We could merge with them!"

Chanyeol's jaws hung open as he saw his stepdad made a triumphant smile like he was proud of himself for being able to think of that reason in the last seconds. Chanyeol knew that he also only had seconds to think of his own comebacks. His options were always limited when it came to argue with his stepdad. He either had to go retort him, go around him, or surprise him. And right now, Chanyeol chose the latter.

Chanyeol threw his head back and faked a mocking laugh. "So that's it? That's what it take to make him a CEO? Not because of _himself_ , but because he has someone to be a backup plan for this company?"

Minki lowered his head, looking like he was embarrassed of his dad. He should be. Chanyeol would have feel embarrassed to death too if he had a father as stupid as Minhyuk.

Minhyuk's face reddened. "It's not like th--"

"You know that I have fiance too, right?" Chanyeol dropped the bomb. He went all out. He had to if he wanted to have the upper hand here. Seeing Minhyuk, Minki, and Mr. Woo's shocked face, Chanyeol knew that his split seconds decision was worth it.

"You what?" Minki looked stricken.

"I have fiance."

"No, you don't."

"I think you meant _you_ didn't know. Because I never meant for both of you to know until like, day minus three of the wedding. But now that you brought it up…" Chanyeol looked at his stepfather. "He's a CEO of a big company too, just so you know."

Minhyuk's brows rose. "He?"

Chanyeol bit his tongue. Shit, did he say "he"? He couldn't say that it was a slip of a tongue now, could he? Or he would seem suspicious. "Yes, my fiance is a he. Got problem with that?"

Minhyuk blinked. It looked like he was more shocked with the revelation of his stepson was in fact gay, than the fact now he had a fiance. "I didn't know--"

"Yeah, well, I never bothered to tell you,” Chanyeol cut him off. “So, what, then? Do I become the CEO now? Since I have a fiance?”

“It’s not just that, Chanyeol,” Chanyeol’s stepfather started to stomp his feet.

“But you said so yourself. That Minki got to be the CEO because he’s _calm_ ,” Chanyeol chuckled briefly, mocking them. “Though I don’t know whether he’s calm, or rather he’s quiet because he can’t speak. And also because he got a fiance, which I also have.”

Albeit his face turning red, Minhyuk still tried to smile. “Yes, yes, yes. Of course.” He cleared his throat. “You are both capable for the position. I know that. So, uhm, when will you introduce your fiance to us, Chanyeol?”

 _Trying to change the topic, I see._ “Didn’t you hear me? I have no intention to introduce him to you?”

“Oh, that hurt me, son. But I have to meet him if you want to marry him, no? Especially since he’s also a CEO. I would love to know what kind of company he owns, so we could merge with them.”

Chanyeol’s jaws clenched. He started to wonder if this plan had backfired or not. But if his stepfather wanted to play dirty, so could he. He would do everything in his willpower to not let the scumbag and his son rule this company. Chanyeol was done. “Fine, when do you want to meet him?”

Smiling as if he had won the battle, Minhyuk grinned. “Let me see. How about you bring him to our company fundraising party two months from now? Therefore, you could introduce him to all the guests and announced your engagement too.”

 _Goddammit._ The old man was having fun with this, smiling so widely. But Chanyeol refused to back down. Instead, he pushed forward. “Excellent. I’m sure everyone will love him. Are we done? I’m out.”

As Chanyeol turned around and tried to look less obvious that he was rattled, he promised himself that he would be the one who smiled at the end. Chanyeol would bring his stepfather down, no matter what.

Then an unwanted thought crossed his mind as he closed the door of Minhyuk’s office. The thought that had always been in his mind every here and there for the past ten years.

_Baekhyun._

Chanyeol realized the reason he said _he_ back there in the room was because the thought of _fiance_ and _marriage_ were always he associated with that boy. Chanyeol’s high school entire memories. The reason he could keep going until now. His first love. His long-lost almost lover.

 

 

 

~ _10 Years Ago_ ~

What were the chances that some people could get off on the wrong foot with his employer on the very first day of his job. Moreover, this was not even Baekhyun’s job. And Chanyeol was definitely not his employer. Or his parents’ employer. Chanyeol was just a son of Baekhyun’s parents’ employer. That was that, and also the fact that they were schoolmates who never really knew each other. That was their relationship. But somehow, in the most fucked-up way, their first meeting wasn’t so pleasant.

Chanyeol was infamous for being a jerk, but Baekhyun never knew that he was an asshole. Unfortunately, Baekhyun had to learn it the hard way. When his mother asked him to get the “young master” for dinner, Baekhyun’s gut had been screaming _NO_ the whole time he walked toward Chanyeol’s room.

So, his first time greeting the school’s jock would be him asking him to come down for dinner. How domestic. Nice. Baekhyun wanted to strangle his mother. So much.

Baekhyun hadn’t explore the mansion since the time he arrived there in the morning. There were so many rooms, but his mother didn’t even have to explain which one was the young master’s room because it was so blatantly obvious. As Baekhyun stood in front of the door filled with band stickers and posters, he wouldn’t know back then that it was the room of the cruelest man he’d ever met.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing._ His knuckles made a contact with the wooden door three times before Baekhyun brought his hand down again, waiting for response, but none coming. He did it a couple of times more but there were no sounds came from inside the room that Baekhyun started to fidget on his feet. He really, really didn’t want to yell from outside, but it seemed to be the only option right now.

“Excuse me,” Baekhyun started off mildly, but there was still no answer from inside the room. Baekhyun was about to call again, this time with higher voice when there was a sudden loud noise came from inside another room, the room right beside Chanyeol’s room. And there was a familiar voice--Chanyeol’s voice--came from there.

Decided to go to the room that look grander than the room he just knocked, Baekhyun didn’t know that he was about to experience a few minutes that would ruin his whole senior year of high school. Those few minutes was a blur to Baekhyun. He could only remember that he walked toward the grand mahogany door, and almost suddenly, he heard a yell came from inside, two men shouting at each other.

“You know what? I don’t wanna hear it anymore. I don’t even wanna see your face ever again.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that, son, or I’ll--”

“Or what? You’ll hit me? You know damn well that I could hit you back now, harder even. I’m not my fourteen years old self anymore who would receive your fists readily.”

“Enough, Chanyeol!”

Certainly, this wasn’t a conversation that Baekhyun supposed to hear. Chanyeol was arguing with… his father? Baekhyun didn’t want to know. Just as Baekhyun was about to step back and get away from the scene, the sound of something eerily similar to a punch came from inside the room. And another one. Then another one. They were followed by a sound of two men grunting, but mostly came from another man, not Chanyeol.

 _What should I do?_ Baekhyun should go, he knew. But he can’t move his feet at all.

“I’m done with you, Minhyuk. Don’t talk to me about this again.” Chanyeol’s ragged voice boomed, and before Baekhyun knew what was happening, the mahogany door swung open, almost smashing his face.

Then, there was Chanyeol, standing in front of him. The teenage boy stopped in his track and froze almost in the literal sense. His initial angry face morphed into shock almost instantly. Baekhyun’s chest constricted when he saw a flash of embarrassment in Chanyeol’s eyes.

_I should’ve just go._

When Baekhyun shifted his sight to the man behind Chanyeol, his suspicion was right. It was Chanyeol’s father, or more precisely, his stepfather, Minhyuk. The man’s lips were bleeding pretty bad, and he was sitting on the carpet, looking like he was about to pass out. And turned out, the room was a study room.

“What the hell?”

When Baekhyun’s gaze landed back on the boy in front of him, Chanyeol was back with his terrifying face. “I--I’m not--”

“What are you doing here?“ Chanyeol took one step forward, so now they were only inches apart. “Were you eavesdropping us, Baekhyun?”

_He knows me?_

“I swear I didn’t hear anything. I just got here. My mother wanted you to come down for dinner. I was… only…” Baekhyun trailed off because Chanyeol seemed so confused. The boy really didn’t hide his expression well. “What?”

“You work here?” Chanyeol asked in bewilderment.

“Yes, well, no. My parents are. I just… live here. In your basement.”

Chanyeol’s jaws ticked as he brought his hand to his head, jabbing his hair. He cursed under his breath before his eyes found Baekhyun’s again. “I swear, Baekhyun, if you tell anyone at school--”

“I won’t. I promise I won’t.”

Chanyeol’s eyes turned sadistic. “I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Then Chanyeol brushed pass him, dashing away to the room next door--his room, while Baekhyun stood there, dumbfounded. At that time, Baekhyun had no idea how serious Chanyeol was with his words.

 

 

 

~Present day~

Chanyeol's brain was trying to fuck with him since yesterday he blurted out that he had a fiance without thinking to his stepfather and stepbrother, because as a result, it wouldn't shut the thought of Baekhyun off even one second. Don't get him wrong, for the past ten years, the thought of him was constantly there, but since yesterday, it came in a full force, even when Chanyeol was asleep-- _especially_ when he was asleep.

As Chanyeol looking at the report about fundraising party which would take place in two month, his brain that supposedly thinking about what kind of event the company should hold that night was preoccupied by a certain boy--a man by now--but in Chanyeol's mind, Baekhyun would always be the boy living in his basement, his school mate, his object of idiocy, and his first love. The last part would never change.

By the time the clock hit twelve at noon, Chanyeol knew there was no way he could continue working for the rest of the day. His head was screwed. He was about to get off his chair when he heard a knock on his door.

Furrowing his brows, feeling annoyed that his plan to go was interrupted, Chanyeol huffed. "Come in."

The door opened, and Joohyun, his assistant, peek inside the room. "You have a minute, Mr. Park?"

A minute probably wouldn't hurt. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Looking like a pro secretary that she was, Joohyun walked toward Chanyeol's desk with a bunch of papers in her hands. "You asked me to look for CEO of companies here in Seoul."

"Ah, right," Chanyeol rubbed his forehead. He totally forgot that he had asked for her help. "You're done with that?"

"Yes. But there aren't many single CEOs around. I was surprised myself," she said as she handed the papers to Chanyeol's hand and she took two steps back, giving her boss privacy to read the profiles on the papers.

Chanyeol exhaled before he looked at the profiles one by one. Joohyun actually did pretty good in digging all these. Looking for CEOs from a successful company, with the criteria of being single and at Chanyeol's age, was hard. But his assistant succeeded to get around 20 men. Chanyeol only got to the tenth profile, a CEO of a liquor company, but he already could tell that his secretary had chosen the best ones. As expected of Bae Joohyun. They all looked incredible and Chanyeol knew that some of them would get his stepfather annoyed as hell if Chanyeol chose them as fiance.

But nothing--and he meant, _nothing_ in this whole world would prepare him to see what was in the 14th page.

"Holy mother..." Chanyeol couldn't continue. His breath hitched. His throat closed up. And he was pretty sure that his heart had stopped beating too.

It was Baekhyun.

There. In front of him. On the paper. It was a picture of Baekhyun.

He was different from the boy Chanyeol remembered ten years ago, but Chanyeol would recognized him however way.

It was him. _My Baekhyun._

A thousand of questions were racking his brain. What? How? Why? But it didn't matter in this very moment because Chanyeol was so mesmerized by the formal picture of the boy--the man--of his dream for the past ten years.

Baekhyun was wearing formal suits in the photo. His lips were stretched into a small smile that Chanyeol was familiar with. All of his features were sharp, except his eyes. Baekhyun's eyes were always soft and warm.

Chanyeol found him. He can't believe he found Baekhyun. He almost cried right then and there, but remembered that there was a more pressing matter.

Chanyeol looked up to Joohyun. "This man, Byun Baekhyun, he... What?" Apparently, Chanyeol also lost the ability to speak.

Despite confused of the change of attitude of her boss, Joohyun still answered him. "Mr. Byun is the founder and the CEO of Rainbow Foundation. It's a really big foundation, taking care of poor people, although I heard that right now they're having a little financial difficulty."

Chanyeol's heart thumped loudly in his chest. There were things that caught his attention. First, the fact that Baekhyun was a CEO had blown his mind away. Second, Baekhyun's foundation was helping poor people. That was... admiring of him to help people who were in the same shoes with him back then. And third, God, this was Baekhyun. Chanyeol had _found_ him.

Chanyeol cleared his throat, he didn't want to sound too shaken up. "How come I never heard about this company?"

"Uhm," Irene tilted her head. "NGO isn't really our area of business, Mr. Park."

True. Apparently, Chanyeol had lost ability to think too now. His company focused on commercials, while Baekhyun's focused on social part. No wonder Chanyeol never heard of him or his company. But all this time, Chanyeol searched for his name in the internet once in a while and he never found about this information. How, though?

"Never heard about him from the internet either," Chanyeol tried to dig from Joohyun. "Did he never reveal himself?"

Irene shook her head. "I don't know, sir. But he's indeed pretty secretive about himself."

Chanyeol nodded calmly, but his mind was a jumble of mess, and his heart wasn't doing better either. He just can't wrap himself around the fact that the boy who lived in his basement was now a CEO. How funny life could be. And how proud he was right now for Baekhyun. So damn proud.

After the initial shock and confusion had passed, and now that the address of Baekhyun's office was blatantly written on paper in his hold, Chanyeol was consumed with the urge to dash out of his office and see him. Seeing him was long overdue, but now that Chanyeol had found him when he was looking for a fiance, he couldn't help but think that this was some universe's miracle work. His misery for ten years finally led to this. There was no way Chanyeol could breathe for the next minutes without seeing Baekhyun with his own eyes.

Standing abruptly, Chanyeol only took Baekhyun's paper with him before he ran out of his office. "I'm done for the day, Joohyun."

Chanyeol only heard the faint sound of _Okay, Sir_ from his secretary because now he was practically running to the elevator. He was fidgeting in his feet as he waited for the elevator to arrive in his floor. When it dinged and opened for him, the sight of his stepbrother welcomed him.

"Where are you going?" Minki asked with his brows furrowed, stepping out of the elevator, while Chanyeol got in.

Usually, seeing his stepbrother would turn Chanyeol's mood somber, but right now, nothing would. Even seeing his stepfather wouldn't dampen his mood at all like it usually did.

Chanyeol smiled at Minki, which he never did, and only made his stepbrother furrow even deeper. "I'm having lunch with my fiance," Chanyeol said triumphantly as the elevator came to a close.

 

 

 

~ _10 years ago_ ~

"Hey, servant. Today's breakfast is shit."

Baekhyun closed his eyes momentarily and kept on walking toward the empty table in the corner of cafeteria, his favorite spot, because it was the farthest from where Chanyeol and his friends usually were. Baekhyun wished he could say that ignoring what Chanyeol said to him was getting easier each day, but in reality, it wasn’t. At all.

Placing his tray of food on the white table, Baekhyun sat down in front if his only friend in the whole school, Kyungsoo.

"I see Park is being an asshole again today," Kyungsoo jerked his chin up.

Baekhyun's back was on Chanyeol, so he wouldn't face him. That was the least he could do to ignore the guy. "He's an asshole every single second," Baekhyun replied nonchalantly, too tired with Chanyeol's antics.

It was three months after that day they met for the first time in front of Chanyeol's stepfather's study room. The day when Baekhyun not-so accidentally heard the conversation he wasn't supposed to hear. Turned out, Chanyeol stayed true to what he said. He made Baekhyun's life a living hell. At least in the school, since he only had power here.

Now, everyone in school knew that Baekhyun's family work for Chanyeol's. The popular guy never forgot to remind everyone that by calling Baekhyun 'servant', and some innuendos like earlier about breakfast, dinner, grass in the yard, carpet stain. Baekhyun had to give him some credits because Chanyeol's complaints were different every day.

So far, Chanyeol only did verbal abuse to him. And oddly, it never hurt Baekhyun at all. Deep down, Baekhyun knew that this was Chanyeol's defense mechanism. After all, Baekhyun had heard and witnessed him fight with his stepfather, and Chanyeol didn't really know how to act around him beside by being a jerk. Baekhyun totally got that.

What made Baekhyun confused was the fact that while doing all that mocking, he could see something in Chanyeol's eyes. The popular boy was always smirking or grinning mischievously when he talked to Baekhyun, but his eyes said something different.

Baekhyun still didn't know what it was, though. And he didn't really keen on finding out either, although sometimes it kept him up at night.

"Still haven't found your history notes?" Kyungsoo's voice broke Baekhyun from his reverie.

Baekhyun sighed. "No, and the test is tomorrow."

"You sure you don't want to borrow mine?" Kyungsoo looked concern.

Baekhyun shook his head as he began to mix his rice bowl. "No, I can't do that to you. You need to study too."

Kyungsoo chuckled. "Like I care about history. You need it more, since you need to maintain your grade."

"Yeah, I can't risk my scholarship, but still, I can't do that to you."

They finished talking and started to eat in silent while Baekhyun tried to think about what he should do. Maybe he would go to the library to borrow some history books. Or maybe... he could ask for Chanyeol's book. That guy probably didn't need it since he never studied.

He ended up laughing under his breath. That scenario wouldn't happen in a million years. Borrowing books from library seemed to be the right choice.

"Oh my god..." Once again, Kyungsoo's voice brought Baekhyun's attention back to the reality.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Baekhyun, I'm pretty sure that's your history book that Chanyeol waves around," Kyungsoo told him as his eyes locked on something behind Baekhyun.

Baekhyun turned around, and yes, Kyungsoo was right. That was definitely Baekhyun's book. In the entire school, only Baekhyun who covered his notebook with plastic cover.

Baekhyun suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to punch someone, a certain someone to be exact. Park Chanyeol.

Standing up abruptly until he almost knock his chair down, Baekhyun walked toward Chanyeol and his group of friends. They were laughing while Chanyeol was still waving around Baekhyun's book, smiling--more like smirking at him, looking like he had won something.

"Hey, servant," Chanyeol mocked. His tone almost made Baekhyun want to crawl onto the table and scratch his beautiful face.

"I'm not gonna ask you how you got my book. Just give me that, Chanyeol," Baekhyun said with gritted teeth, trying so hard to control his anger.

"You sure you don't want to know?" Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, challenging him. And somehow, his friends were laughing with him, though Baekhyun really didn't know what the hell they were laughing at.

Baekhyun's palms turned into fists. "Chanyeol, I need that book."

"Oh, right. You need to study, or else, you'll lose your scholarship and you can't have that, right, servant? Hey guys, I bet you don't have a servant who is as smart as mine, right? He gets scholarship. But what's a smart brain for if you don't have money, true?"

Baekhyun's hands trembled as he listened to all of them laughed, and also probably the whole cafeteria who witnessed this event of humiliation. His eyes began to sting and Baekhyun refused to show his vulnerability. When he felt a hand around his shoulders, Baekhyun knew that Kyungsoo had come to his rescue, as usual.

"Give him the book, Park. Or I'll tell the teachers," Kyungsoo warned him, which was a load of bullshit, because everyone knew that the school really favored Chanyeol and his family. A mere complaint about a book stealing wouldn't make them do something to the guy whose family gave a huge amount of money to the school.

Even through his rage, Baekhyun could see the shift in Chanyeol's expression when he saw Kyungsoo. He looked... pissed. And Baekhyun honestly didn't know why. Chanyeol didn't seem to be someone who would be easily offended by people, especially the ones who he thought not on the same level at him. So him throwing dagger through his eyes toward Kyungsoo was really uncalled for.

"This is none of your business, Kyungsoo the knight in shining armor," Chanyeol's tone was mocking, but his face was still hard.

Baekhyun was done being confused. He was back on his ground once more. "That," Baekhyun pointed at his book in Chanyeol's hand, "...is none of your business. Give it back to me, you prick."

Chanyeol's attention was back at Baekhyun, and somehow, his face lightened up again. "I almost forgot you're there, servant."

"Okay, that's enough," Baekhyun brushed past the people surrounding Chanyeol, earning whistles from here and there for his repulse act. When Baekhyun finally stood right before Chanyeol, the guy didn't bother to stand up, still sitting with all his glory. "Give it back, Chanyeol."

Baekhyun was tired. He just wanted a peaceful lunch break when he could eat his food in silent, talking to Kyungsoo about things that didn't really matter. But instead, he must deal with child play Chanyeol had done.

"Chanyeol." Baekhyun closed his eyes and exhaled a pent-up breath. He opened his eyes again and didn't care right now if he needed to beg. "Please. Just give it back."

_I just want to eat in peace._

Something in Baekhyun's tone or maybe his expression must have turn something in the guy's heart, because now Chanyeol wasn't smiling anymore. The look of mocking was wiped away from his face, replaced by a look that Baekhyun often saw every time the boy finished with his antics toward him. But also, as usual, it only lasted one second before it was replaced again with a scowl.

Chanyeol threw Baekhyun's book right onto him, and Baekhyun caught his book with the help of his chest.

"You're no fun, servant," Chanyeol said before he turned his head away, no longer facing Baekhyun.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and turned around too, walking toward Kyungsoo who had been waiting for him. Now finally they could eat in peace.

 

 

 

~Present day~

Chanyeol's heart threatened to break away from his ribcage. It was beating too fast it almost alarmed him that it would make him got a heart attack. But nothing in the world mattered as much as him only a few minutes away from meeting Baekhyun. Chanyeol didn’t mind to actually get a heart attack. He would die happy as long as he got to see Baekhyun.

_Who you stupidly pushed away._

_There's no way he would accept your offer._

Chanyeol shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be worried about the outcome of his proposition. The most important thing was Chanyeol needed to see him, or else he would die, he was sure of it.

Now sitting in his car, Chanyeol rested his head on the steering wheel as he tried so hard to calm himself. He had practiced what he needed to do and say in the past hour on the way to Baekhyun's office, located in the small neighborhood just outside the outskirt of Ulsan.

Chanyeol glanced at the three storages building in front of him as he pulled out his phone. He had emailed Joohyun, asking her about what she knew about Baekhyun's company. Chanyeol read Joohyun’s report carefully. Rainbow Foundation was a private foundation focused on helping poor people in Korea, mainly in Seoul and Busan. They were dealing with healing the poor, bring resources, and mobilizing people. But this year there had been a slight bumpy road in their journey. One of their major funders went bankrupt, so the company lost its main source of money. They desperately needed new funders, and fortunately, Chanyeol knew exactly how to play his card.

Trying his luck, Chanyeol got out of his car and locked it before he crossed the narrow street, approaching the glass door of Baekhyun's building. As Chanyeol pushed it open, the cold air hit his face immediately. Good. He needed something to cool him down. He would take anything at this point.

"Uhm," Chanyeol hesitated when he walked to the receptionist. "This is Rainbow Foundation, right?"

A woman not much younger from Chanyeol bowed to him from behind her desk. "Yes, sir. How may I help you?"

Chanyeol looked at her nametag then returned his gaze back at her. "Is the director present today, Jisoo?"

Jisoo smiled. "Yes, Mr. Byun is in today. Have you made an appointment to meet him, uhm..."

 _Mr. Byun_. This was really happening.

"Call me Mr. Park. And no, I haven't made an appointment to see him. But if he's not busy, can you tell him that I'm need to see him... right now?"

"Sure. Please have a seat while I call Mr. Byun."

"No, it's okay. I'll wait here."

There was no way Chanyeol would be able to sit calmly while Baekhyun was in the same building with him. He waited while he fought like hell to keep breathing, in and out, in and out, or else he would pass out.

"Mr. Byun?" Baekhyun's name came out from Jisoo's mouth made Chanyeol's heart skipped a beat. "There's someone here waiting for you. Mr. Park. Yes, Mr. Park. He's from..." Jisoo glanced at Chanyeol, but he shook his head. "Uhm, he didn't say where he's from. Okay. Okay, Mr. Byun." Jisoo put the phone down, then smiled to Chanyeol. "Mr. Byun is waiting for you. His office is on the third floor, right across the elevator. His secretary would come to get you."

Chanyeol forced himself to smile since she had helped him a lot. "Thank you, Jisoo."

After Jisoo bowed to him, Chanyeol didn't waste any more second and went to the elevator. Thank goodness Chanyeol didn't have to wait long, because honestly, he couldn't handle any more waiting.

The ride to the third floor was painfully slow, while in fact it only took ten seconds. As Chanyeol exited the elevator, he immediately noticed two things; one was the silver placate on the door right in front of him read _Byun Baekhyun, Director_ , and two was how his chest bloomed with nothing but proud while looking at it.

"Good afternoon. You must be Mr. Park." The man sitting on the desk by the entry door to Baekhyun's office got up. "I'm Junmyeon. Mr. Byun's secretary."

Chanyeol nodded. "Yes, I'm here for Mr. Byun."

"Of course. Mr. Byun is expecting you already." Junmyeon took a step back, giving Chanyeol way.

Chanyeol swallowed the lump in his throat. _You've been waiting for this moment for ten years. You can do it._ He didn't bother to excuse himself from Baekhyun's secretary and just sauntered toward the door. His mind was focused only in one thing which was _get to Baekhyun._

Taking a deep breath, Chanyeol opened the door, and the air was knocked out of his chest almost right away after his eyes found Baekhyun's round ones staring at him with bewilderment. Just like Chanyeol always remembered, Baekhyun's eyes were _insane_. He could stare at them every second for the rest of his life and would never get bored.

Chanyeol almost ran to him and threw himself at him, crushing him. But he stayed. He let Baekhyun to process this. To take _him_ in.

"Chanyeol?" Baekhyun's voice was merely a whisper but it was everything Chanyeol needed to keep standing.

"Baekhyun." His voice was so throaty it almost unrecognizable even for him. "Hey."

It was the second most surreal moment in Chanyeol's life. The first one was when he finally got the courage to kiss Baekhyun all those years ago.

Chanyeol's chest heaving. It was getting harder for him to breathe. Baekhyun was even more stunning in person. His picture didn't do justice for his beauty. Baekhyun was really handsome even back then. But now? He was devastatingly gorgeous.

Chanyeol wanted to kiss him so much.

"What... How could... You're really Chanyeol?"

Shit. Now Chanyeol really, really wanted to kiss him. He felt bad for Baekhyun, he must be really confused right now, but his confused and shocked expression was really cute. Chanyeol wondered what would happen if he proposed to him right now. Baekhyun would probably pass out.

Chanyeol took a few steps forward. He just physically couldn't be away from Baekhyun anymore. "How are you, Baekhyun?"

Baekhyun's shocked expression turned into anger all of a sudden. It was like the question Chanyeol just uttered make the switch in his head turned. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Chanyeol didn't flinch. He expected this outburst. "Listen to me, Baek--"

"Get out." Baekhyun's face reddened as he stormed off his desk toward Chanyeol. "Get the fuck out, Chanyeol."

Chanyeol must've been sick because being sworn at by Baekhyun warmed his chest. He even could feel himself fighting to not smile. Or else Baekhyun surely kill him. "Would you please calm down--"

"No," Baekhyun snapped.

Baekhyun was now right in front him. It took everything in Chanyeol's willpower to not pull Baekhyun against him, feeling his flesh in his arms again. Chanyeol looked down, and he could feel his mouth curved into a slight smile. "You're still shorter than me. I see you stopped growing at eighteen, huh?"

Baekhyun looked like he was about to murder Chanyeol. "You... I could kick you out anytime just like you did to me. This is _my_ office."

It felt like a knife just gutted his heart to hear that—the way Chanyeol treated him back the--came from Baekhyun’s mouth. Chanyeol actually felt pain in his chest. "Baekhyun, at least let me explain."

Baekhyun scoffed. "It's so weird to hear you call me by my name. I was so used to hear you calling me _servant._ "

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol warned him. "I came here in peace."

"Yeah? Well, I spent my entire senior year trying to make peace with you, but you never gave me a chance even once. So, really, Chanyeol, get out before I ask Junmyeon to call security."

It seemed like a joke when he first entered the room. But right now, Chanyeol seriously had no idea how to make the man before him stop his outburst of anger other than saying this. And he hoped to God, it wouldn't make Baekhyun became angrier.

"I come to ask you to marry me."

 

 

 

 

 


	2. The Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For most parts, Baekhyun and his company were in advantage. Massive benefits. While Chanyeol… it almost seemed like Chanyeol would marry Baekhyun just because.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still in the episode of Chanyeol trying to win Baekhyun's heart. I hope you like this one!

 

 

 

 

_10 years ago_

 

Chanyeol wanted to throw up.

Seeing Baekhyun across the cafeteria, laughing with Kyungsoo--formerly Baekhyun's only friend and now turned boyfriend--made Chanyeol feel like his heart turned inside out. The jealousy that usually lingered under the surface had burst out in explosion. It blinded him with rage and made him out of control.

Chanyeol noticed that Kyungsoo tried to give Baekhyun a piece of his food, a shrimp, and Chanyeol scoffed under his breath. A shrimp? Did Kyungsoo seriously give Baekhyun a shrimp? Baekhyun didn’t like shrimp, or any seafood. The boy liked--no, loved--pork cutlet the most. That was Baekhyun’s favorite dish.

Without him realizing, Chanyeol had shove off everyone to reach Baekhyun. He didn't know what he would do, he couldn't _think_. Apparently he had lost that particular ability when it came to Baekhyun. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that boy who had infiltrated his mind, body, and soul was in the arms of another boy. And Chanyeol wouldn't have that.

Because whether Baekhyun know it or not, he was Chanyeol's. From the very first time Chanyeol landed his eyes on him, Baekhyun was his.

When Baekhyun realized that Chanyeol was approaching him, he stopped mid-laughing and looked shocked. No wonder, this was the first time Chanyeol came to him. It was usually the other way around.

"Hey." Chanyeol winched because even from the three letters word, he sounded tortured. His jealousy oozed to the surface until he couldn't even hide it. "Care to introduce your boyfriend to me, servant?"

Saying _his boyfriend_ out loud hurt like hell. It cut like a knife. Like he truly admitted defeat. But Chanyeol didn't want anyone to know that his pride was hurting. So he did the only thing he could do. Hurting Baekhyun.

_While I just want to fucking hold him._

"I can't believe that you're gay, servant. Way to lower your bar even more," Chanyeol mocked, almost yelling because his nerve had riled him up, until some people around them in the cafeteria turned their heads to watch.

As soon as the sentences left his mouth, Chanyeol immediately wanted to swallow them back in, but it was too late. Now Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stared at him with a look of disgust.

But Baekhyun's expression had something else that gutted Chanyeol's stomach. It was a look of sadness.

  


 

 

It was three days after the surprise visit from Chanyeol, and Baekhyun still couldn't get it out of his mind.

 _I came to ask you to marry me_.

After that sentence came out from Chanyeol's mouth, Baekhyun just couldn't handle it anymore. He couldn't breathe. So, although he was wondering what the hell Chanyeol meant with that, the well-being of his heart was more important. He kicked Chanyeol out of his office and locked the door.

_I came to ask you to marry me._

Baekhyun shook his head. No, he needed to get it together. Seeing Chanyeol in person had rattled him in every possible way, but Baekhyun refused to let it linger any longer. He had business to be saved. He forced himself to concentrate on the matter in his hands.

As he looked at the financial report--a really bad financial report of his company--Baekhyun's thought once again wandered. He had been constantly running away, hiding from Chanyeol for ten long years. That wasn't an easy feat, considering the digital age. That man probably didn't know how Baekhyun's world was revolved around him. He took economy major and work his ass off with multiple part time jobs to build his own company, he built the foundation from scratch in order to help poor people like him because he wanted to help anyone who were in his shoes. He never went public or gave his name away as the founder and CEO of the company because of the fear that Chanyeol would find him.

Baekhyun's current life was the product of his hatred toward Chanyeol, and having the subject of his so-called ‘motivation’ arrived in his very door wasn't an ordinary everyday occurrence. It was an awesome feat that he didn't lose consciousness that day.

_I came to ask you to marry me._

And that sentence--that goddamn sentence. As if his appearance wasn't shocking enough, Chanyeol just had to surprise him with that kind of shit. Baekhyun never knew what Chanyeol meant by that because he never gave the man the chance to explain himself. Whatever that was, Baekhyun was sure that Chanyeol only wanted to mess with him.

_Why after ten years..._

Baekhyun cursed under his breath. He hated himself for being affected this much. Not only emotionally, but also physically. As much as he wanted to say that seeing Chanyeol awakened every hate cell in him, Baekhyun couldn't lie that other emotion also rose. _Longing_.

Baekhyun missed him like hell, despite hating him to his very core.

The sound of knock on his door broke Baekhyun's trance. He cleared his throat. "Come in."

Junmyeon's head peek inside through the slightly opened door. "Hey, Boss. You have delivery."

"What delivery?"

Junmyeon smirked. "A bucket of flowers."

Baekhyun's heartbeat accelerated. "What? From whom?"

"Someone named Jongjin or something. Wait, let me check." Then Junmyeon was gone.

Baekhyun blinked. Jongjin? He gasped. "Oh my God.”

The flowers must've been from Jongin, the manager from Yellow Publishing, a company that had been helping Rainbow Foundation in distributing children books all over the country.

Baekhyun totally forgot that he had a date with the man. Jongin had relentlessly asked Baekhyun out for a date for almost a year now. And just a week ago, Baekhyun finally agreed out of pity for the man, and also because he didn't want to make the relationship between the two companies become bad.

What were the chances that the moment Baekhyun agreed to go out on a date, Chanyeol came back into his life.

And to think that he got excited, thinking that flowers might be from Chanyeol, was just plain stupid.

Baekhyun was originally looking forward to this date with Jongin. The man was very attractive and kind, and it flattered Baekhyun that Jongin was attracted to him. But now that his mind was completely preoccupied by someone from his teenage days barging back into his life, it really didn't feel right to go out tonight.

Baekhyun shook his head. _No_. Why should he feel guilty about going out with other man? It wasn't like Baekhyun was taken.

Junmyeon once again peek his head inside Baekhyun's office. His face looked pale. "Boss, the bucket is from Jongin of Yellow Publishing. And uhm, I can't give you the flowers now because they were in the trash bin."

What?

Not even a second later, Junmyeon was out of sight again, seemingly being pulled away by something, or someone. The spot occupied by him earlier was now taken by a figure that had been invading Baekhyun’s thought for the past three days--or ten years, but Baekhyun would never admit it.

Chanyeol was there. In his office. Again.

So three days ago wasn’t a dream, after all?

“What on earth…” Baekhyun muttered almost breathlessly. Just like every time he was face to face with the man, Baekhyun had trouble breathing. He looked way too handsome for his own good. Honestly, Baekhyun was always attracted by the man’s look since ten years ago, bur right now? His attractiveness had shot through the roof with his slick pushed-back black hair and sharp suits.

Chanyeol got inside Baekhyun’s office, closing the door behind him. Baekhyun might be still dumbfounded by his appearance but Chanyeol’s pissed expression wasn’t missed by him.

“Who’s Jongin?” Chanyeol started.

Baekhyun raised his brows. Then it clicked. “You threw away Jongin’s flowers?” Baekhyun rose from his seat. Rage and frustration suddenly consumed him. “What the hell, Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol snarled. “No, I should be the one who said that. What the hell, Baekhyun?”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about. What are you even doing here?”

“I know you heard what I said the last time I was here. I asked you to marry me.”

Baekhyun’s legs wobbled. He almost fell back onto his seat.

“And now I came here again, I found out that some fuckboy sent my fiance a bucket of flowers. You think I won’t be mad?”

Okay. Now Baekhyun couldn’t hold himself up anymore. He sat back down on his chair as he looked at Chanyeol like he just said the world would end in five minutes. Baekhyun was lost at words. His tongue tied.

Chanyeol sauntered toward Baekhyun’s desk. His hands crossed over his chest. “Well? Who’s Jongin?”

Baekhyun’s attention now was too focused on Chanyeol’s biceps. Since when Chanyeol became this big? Baekhyun shook his head. _Pull yourself together, Byun Baekhyun._ “That’s none of your business.” Baekhyun tried to sound harsh, but fail miserably. He was still shaken. “What are you doing here, Chanyeol? And what’s with the marriage proposal? Are you trying to trick me?”

Chanyeol stopped right before Baekhyun’s desk. He showed his pointy finger to Baekhyun, like he was trying to make a point. “That of course is my business, since you’re my fiance--”

“I’m not your fiance!”

“And about what am I doing here?” Chanyeol continued, ignoring Baekhyun. “I was gonna ask you if you want to have lunch together. And about the marriage proposal? Yes, I was proposing to you. I thought it was obvious? And, no, I’m not trying to trick you.”

Baekhyun blinked in astonishment. What did Chanyeol think? Like he would believe a word he was saying? Closing his eyes, trying to calm his anger down, Baekhyun shook his head. “I don’t have time for this, Chanyeol. What do you want?”

“I’ve said what I want.”

“Stop it,” Baekhyun snapped. His knuckle had turned white. “Before I kicked you out of my office again.”

For the first time since he entered the room, Chanyeol’s expression turned serious. He took a seat across from Baekhyun, racking his fingers through his perfect hair, before he inhaled a deep breath and looked straight into Baekhyun’s eyes. “I’m not kidding when I said I want you to marry me.”

Baekhyun sucked in a breath. Chanyeol’s pierced eyes on him made his heart skip a beat and Baekhyun hated that the taller man still had that effect on him. “You.... you made my senior year a living hell. And now, after you kicked me out of your house… and after not seeing each other for ten years, out of nowhere, you want to marry me?”

Chanyeol’s eyes were still trained on him hard, but the edge of his lips started to curl. “Damn right, shortie.”

Baekhyun gaped. “Did you just call me…” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Nevermind that. I want to know why. Why do you want to marry me? What are you trying to do? And don’t say that you love me or some other shits, Chanyeol. I won’t believe you in a million years.”

It felt like Baekhyun’s eyes were playing tricks on him, because Chanyeol actually looked a little bit sad and disappointed for a split second. But the look was quickly replaced by stoic expression once again. “Why do you think that I’m trying to do something here? What if I really just want to marry you?”

“Like that even possible? You’re not even gay. I remember like it was yesterday that you told me that I was disgus--”

“Stop it.” Chanyeol closed his eyes, like it was hurting him physically to remember their past. “You weren’t… disgusting. I was immature back then.”

Baekhyun threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. “Oh my God. Is this real life? Park Chanyeol just admitted that he was immature.”

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol groaned. Rubbing his face, he looked a little bit drained. “I’m serious, you know?”

Shutting his mouth, Baekhyun looked into Chanyeol’s eyes, searching for any mischievous signs that he was kidding. He almost fell from his chair when he found nothing but determination in his eyes. Baekhyun gulped. “I’m serious, too. If you didn’t give me the real reason you’re here, telling me that kind on nonsense, then I’ll never take you seriously and will gladly kick you out again. I’m not that eighteen years old naive Baekhyun anymore, Chanyeol.”

No matter how hard he thought if this encounter between them had made sense or not, the obvious answer was no, it wasn’t. Chanyeol came back into his life… just like that. No _how are you_ . No _how you’ve been doing for the past ten years_ . No _what are you doing right now_. This was so wrong. So, so wrong.

“I know, shortie, I know.”

Baekhyun snarled, but he oddly not offended by the nickname. That was much better that the nickname Chanyeol given him back then. _Servant_. “Then, explain.”

Baekhyun didn’t know why did he give Chanyeol time to even talk, to even _sit_ in front of him. His conscience told him to push the big guy away from him as far away as possible. But his heart said that he needed to listen. He had a strong feeling that Chanyeol didn’t come to play. He meant business.

Chanyeol let out a deep breath. “I need you to marry me because I need… your help.”

Blinking, Baekhyun didn’t know how to respond to that. “What?”

“Listen,” Chanyeol sat up straight. “I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like a massive jerk, but… Just don’t cut my explanation, okay?”

Now Baekhyun was a little bit wary. He never saw Chanyeol this serious before. “What is it, Chanyeol?”

After a beat of silent, Chanyeol finally opened his mouth. “I need you to marry me because that’s the way I could become CEO in my company.”

Baekhyun’s jaws slacked. He had to hold his breath for a moment to keep himself from yelling. “I’m sorry, what?”

“In order for me to become a CEO of my family’s company, I need to have a fiance. The fiance has to be a CEO of a big company. Or could be a son or daughter of--”

“Are you kidding me right now?”

Chanyeol gave him a look. “I told you not to interrupt me.”

Baekhyun finally put two and two together. Strangled by anger, he got up from his seat, followed by Chanyeol who at least had the decency to look a little bit remorseful. “No, no, no. This is clearly insane. _You_ are insane, Park Chanyeol. You asked me to marry you for money?”

“Baekhyun, listen--”

“And you think I’m so easy that I’ll agree to this?”

“I know that your company is currently struggling…”

The heat was rising in him that Baekhyun felt like he almost exploded. “Get out.” Baekhyun pointed toward the door frantically. “I don’t want to see you again. Get out”

Chanyeol took a step back when he noticed Baekhyun start to walk toward him in angry steps. “We’ll only bound by contract, Baekhyun. You’re not really going to be married to me.”

“You’ve lost your goddamn mind, Chanyeol. What are you thinking, is this some kind of a morning drama to you?”

“Just think about it. If you’re married to me, I’ll become the main sponsor for your company. I’ll merge with you and I’ll give your company tons of exposure.”

Now Chanyeol had really crossed the line. Baekhyun had enough. Baekhyun walked toward him. When they were only a meter away, he pushed the much bigger guy in front of him. “Get out!”

Chanyeol let himself being pushed away. Like he had foreseen Baekhyun’s response and had prepared himself for that. “I could save your company. _You_ could save your company, Baekhyun. I know that this company matter so much for you.”

“Get the fuck out!”

Sighing, Chanyeol took out a brown envelope from inside his bag and put it down on Baekhyun’s desk. “I’ll leave this contract draft of our marriage here, okay? Just read it and think about it.” Chanyeol almost sounded like he was begging, but it could also be just Baekhyun’s imagination.

With that, the tall man turned around, walking toward the door, but not without stealing a glance at Baekhyun before he finally opened the door and was out of Baekhyun’s office.

 

 

 

 

_Ten years ago_

 

Their win for today’s game felt like a miracle to Chanyeol. It was a miracle enough he could afford to play in his state of mind to begin with. His head had been full with the thought of Baekhyun for a few weeks now. And none of them were happy thoughts. Jealousy and anger consumed him in a very unpleasant way, but turned out, those feelings helped him go through the game. His teammates and coach had been praising him throughout the game that he did great for being so aggressive and dangerous.

While Chanyeol’s teammates were all throwing their helmets to the ground, cheering and hugging each other in delight for their first win of the season, Chanyeol took off his helmet only to look around the big stadium, looking for a certain boy. He knew that Baekhyun would be there, somewhere in the bleacher. And he stupidly hoped that the boy now was smiling at him proudly.

Chanyeol let his teammates hug him, smacking him in the back, ruffling his sweat-matted hair, while once in a while he also smiled back at them. But his eyes kept wandering around.

_Where are you, Baekhyun?_

While the world around him was so loud with screams and cheers, Chanyeol couldn’t care less. He longed to see Baekhyun-- _needed to_. There was this dread feeling in the pit of his stomach that made him restless until he could find him.

When he could feel himself being dragged out of the field by his teammates, Chanyeol’s eyes magically landed on a figure that he had been yearned to see.

Chanyeol took a harsh breath. The fact that how Baekhyun could make his legs staggered even from a hundred meters away was beyond him. What Chanyeol realized was that he felt the strong urge to run to the boy of his dream and crush him with his hug. The realization should have scared him, but before it could even register in his mind, Chanyeol saw that Baekhyun wasn’t alone. He was with Kyungsoo, laughing together.

Baekhyun didn’t even look at him, while he was the only thing Chanyeol could see.

A blinding rage of jealousy washed over him. He could feel his overheated body due to exertion of running around the field became even more heated with primal instinct to yank Baekhyun away from Kyungsoo’s hold.

Looking away, Chanyeol knew that he needed to stay away from his house tonight if he wanted to avoid doing something stupid. Something that he would regret.

 

 

 

 

 

“Hello?” Chanyeol put his phone in between his ears and shoulders while his hand were busy trying to tuck in his seatbelt. “Mom? What’s wrong?”

“What, is it wrong for a mother to call her son?”

Chuckling, Chanyeol tried to settle on his driver seat more comfortably. He was still outside Baekhyun’s office building after their not-going-so-well meet up. And honestly, his mom calling him now was a perfect distraction. "No, it's just weird for you to call me in office hour. What's up, Mom?"

Chanyeol heard his mom huffed on the other side of the line. "Should I be the one who said that to you? What's up with you? You're getting married?"

Closing his eyes, Chanyeol cursed inwardly for forgetting to tell the number one person that mattered if his marriage with Baekhyun went on according to plan. "Oh, Mom, I was going to. But I've been so busy--"

"Nope. I'm not going to take that excuse. How busy were you that you didn't even have time to call your own mother?"

Chanyeol suddenly felt bad. If anything, he didn't want his mom to feel left behind or neglected by him. He probably hated her for marrying such a douchebag, but she was still the only family he had. "Mom, really, I'm sorry. I wasn't that busy. I was just… preoccupied by many things." At the very least, Chanyeol could be honest with that.

His mother sighed heavily. Chanyeol knew that she wouldn't let this go away easily, but it seemed that his mom could put this one behind for a while, because there was a more pressing question she was going to ask, and Chanyeol honestly didn't know how to answer that... for now.

"And who's your fiance?"

There it was. The million dollar question.

"Minki said that he's a CEO."

There was two things that Chanyeol realized from that sentence alone. One was that he hated that his mom had to know this from his step brother. Two was the fact that his mom seemingly not care that his son was marrying a man.

Chanyeol never came out to her, but he guessed that she would know. After all, she was his mother. She must have had suspected something by the way he acted around Baekhyun and right after he left.

“Yeah,” Chanyeol croaked out. “It’s Baekhyun, Mom.” The name rolled out of his mouth without him realizing. He surprised himself at how natural it felt for him to say it to his mom. Like it was a done deal. But he honestly couldn’t predict how his mom would react. Baekhyun was her servant’s child, after all.

“Baekhyun? You mean Byun Baekhyun?”

“Yes, Mom. Baekhyun, the son of--”

“Oh my god!” his mother squealed. “Oh, sweetheart. Chanyeol, my baby, I’m so happy for you.”

That certainly wasn’t the reaction Chanyeol had expected. He sat up straight. “Uhm, what do you mean?”

"Darling, you never told me that you finally found him again."

Chanyeol's tongue tied. Did… his mom know all this time? "How…"

"How did I know? Chanyeol, you think Mom wouldn't realize how you were barely standing up after Baekhyun moved away? I noticed everything."

"I... I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. You were practically dead at that time. You didn’t have a single care in the world. Am I right?"

Chanyeol's lips pressed into a thin line, remembering those dark times when Baekhyun left him, or more precisely, Chanyeol made him leave. "True."

"But you found him." That wasn't a question. His mom was simply stating a fact and sounded relieved at the same time. "And you're marrying him. Oh, sweetheart."

"I just… don't want to let go of him again now that I've found him.”

At this point, Chanyeol didn't know if he was still lying to his mom or not. The words coming out from his mouth felt too real for comfort. He _really_ didn't want to lose that guy again now that he had found him.

"Of course. Oh, no, I need to talk to Sehee now, aren't I?"

 _Oh, shit._ Byun Sehee was Baekhyun's mom. After Baekhyun moved away, his family still worked for Chanyeol's family for another year but it seemed like his mom and Baekhyun's mom still contacted each other once in a while. Now, Chanyeol was screwed.

"Uhm, Mom, I don't think you should... Since Baekhyun also haven't told his family." Good, another lie. How many lies that he had told his mom at this point now.

“Seriously?” She clicked her tongue. “Couples nowadays are too focused on themselves.”

"Let Baekhyun tell his family first, okay, Mom?"

Chanyeol's mother sighed. "Alright. Tell him to hurry, so we all could meet and discuss everything."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Chanyeol let out a soundless breath. "Got it. Now I really need to go.”

"Where are you going anyway?"

"Back to office. I'm at Baekhyun's now."

"Aww, you guys are adorable."

It was so weird to hear his mom like this. Chanyeol felt weird--weirdly relieved to be exact. "Mom, seriously?"

She laughed. "Okay, okay. I'll let you go. But really, I won't accept it if you take too long to let me meet him. Understand?"

"I'll think about it,” Chanyeol said, but there was actually other things that he should be worried about, like how to make Baekhyun accept his proposal. "Bye, Mom."

 

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun hated himself for not being able to throw away the contract Chanyeol had given him a week ago. He hadn’t even moved the contract from the spot Chanyeol placed it. It was still there, on his desk, blatantly mocking him, begging him to open it.

Baekhyun tried to lie to himself that he was too busy to check the inside of the envelope and also that he kept forgetting to throw it away. But that was just some petty excuses. Even he knew it himself.

He hadn’t lie that he was busy this past week, though. It had been an important week. He had some meetings with various companies who had the potential to become sponsors for his project this year. But screw his brain, Baekhyun hadn’t been concentrated much lately. So he didn’t really know if the meeting gone well or not. But judging by the fact that none of those companies called him back until today seemed to be a blatant punch to his gut that he was indeed terrible this week.

Baekhyun would like to blame it on Chanyeol, but he wasn’t that low of a person. If that kind of small distraction already made him do a terrible job, he certainly needed to question his credibility to lead his own company.

There were just too much in his mind nowadays; his company, Chanyeol, and Jongin. The latter kept bugging him about when they would have dinner he had promised him. Honestly, Baekhyun didn’t have time for that. He had other matter in hands, but Baekhyun was tired. So exhausted with all the shits happening right now in his life that he started to think that _maybe a dinner with Jongin is what I needed._

He needed a distraction to distract him from his ultimate distraction. Nice.

So Baekhyun finally decided to have their dinner date tonight. Honestly, Baekhyun thought that this was a good idea. He could finally go out of his dungeon and do something for himself. For once.

“You’re going out tonight, boss?” Junmyeon asked when Baekhyun was about to leave. His secretary was leaning against his office door, hands in his pocket.

Baekhyun gave him a small smile. He was excited and wary at the same time. “Yeah. Dinner with Jongin. I’m leaving in five.”

“You finally agree, huh?” Junmyeon grinned.

Baehyun rolled his eyes. “Shut up. There’s nothing else for today, right?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. But Baekhyun, you sure this is okay?”

Raising his brows, Baekhyun threw him a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

Junmyeon shrugged. “You having dinner with Jongin.”

“We’re still talking about that?”

“I thought you were dating that Mr. Park.”

Baekhyun almost fell from his chair. “Wha…” Baekhyun stuttered. “Why the hell do you think that?”

“I just figured. Are you? Dating Mr. Park, I mean.”

“Not at all.” Baekhyun hated that his defense sounded too strong. “I’m not dating him.”

“But Mr. Park called in every day, you know. Like, for this whole week.”

That was the second shock of the day. “He did what?”

Now Junmyeon looked genuinely amused. “He called every day, asking me about you. How are you today, have you eaten yet, some other romantic stuff.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something, but quickly clamped his lips again. Chanyeol called to check on him every day? That was kind of… freaky. But weirdly, Baekhyun didn’t feel bothered. Except for one thing. “Did… did Chanyeol call you directly, like to your cellphone, or…”

“Gosh.” Laughing, Junmyeon shook his head. “No need to be jealous, boss. Mr. Park didn’t directly call me. He called the office’s phone, of course.”

Now Baekhyun was sure his face was beet red. “I wasn’t implying that. What are you talking about?”

Junmyeon was still shaking his head while grinning from ear to ear when he walked outside Baekhyun’s office. “Jongin, you poor guy.”

Baekhyun really didn’t understand what Junmyeon meant. He was definitely _not_ jealous that Chanyeol called Junmyeon every day instead of him. Not at all. Like he cared about the guy who made his entire senior year miserable. Even ten years later, Park Chanyeol remained to be a self-centered prick. Baekhyun really had no reason to be jealous or have any feelings other than hatred toward the man.

But still, why Chanyeol called Junmyeon instead of him, though?

As soon as Junmyeon was out of his office, Baekhyun’s attention was back to the brown envelope on his desk. Somehow, Baekhyun knew that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his dinner tonight with Jongin if he didn’t know the content of it. With a deep exhale, Baekhyun finally took it in his hand. His heart was pounding as he carefully ripped open the sealed envelope. The content was normal contract Baekhyun usually deal with. It had some important point for both parties. As Baekhyun read them word per word, his heart no longer pounding, it was his head now instead.

It was definitely a marriage contract. The title said exactly that. The points explained a lot of details that it made Baekhyun slightly nauseous. It said that the two parties relationship were to be fiancé. The wedding would happen in six months. And marriage would last for two years and a half.

 _Holy hell_.

Baekhyun stopped reading right there and then. He put down the paper and forced himself to breathe. He was so tempted to crumple up the papers, but knew better. He needed to—no, wanted to—read the whole thing.

He licked his dry lips and braced himself to read another section of the contracts. It explained that prior of the contract, Baekhyun’s company would merge with Chanyeol’s company--Parkson Corporation. Moreover, it gave Baekhyun the title of shareholder of Chanyeol’s company. His company would also become the direct sponsor for Baekhyun’s company. The time limit for this was to be discuss further with the two parties.

After Baekhyun finished reading all the details, he couldn’t help gapping. The contracts offered by Chanyeol was too good to be true. For most parts, Baekhyun and his company were in advantage. _Massive_ benefits. While Chanyeol… it almost seemed like Chanyeol would marry Baekhyun just because. But then Baekhyun remembered what he had said.

 _I need you to marry me because that’s the way I could become CEO in my company_.

Baekhyun scoffed. He truly almost forgot about that. Of course Chanyeol would get the best part of this agreement. He would become the freaking CEO of his big consortium company. Although Baekhyun still didn’t understand the correlation between him and Chanyeol becoming CEO, he really didn’t want to care.

Baekhyun tossed the contracts back to its original place, on his messy desk, and took his coat. He had a date to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter mayhaps you will finally know the ultimate reason why baekhyun hates chanyeol so much :""" and mayhaps there's a kiss or two :"""


	3. The Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He crashed their lips together again, harder and deeper this time, making sure that even if the love of his life was dead set on going out with another man tonight, his kiss would be all Baekhyun could taste and think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lil bit short because I need cliffhanger yo!

Chanyeol knew that he was playing with fire by coming to Baekhyun’s office. He had promised himself that he would let Baekhyun cool down and think about his offer. He had done exactly that, not bothering him for a week, although he still called Baekhyun’s secretary to ask about him every day.

Chanyeol was pathetic. He knew. And he didn’t give a flying fuck.

But his patience had been wearing thin. He couldn’t hold out much longer. Chanyeol just knew that he had reached his breaking point. He had to meet Baekhyun. So he came to Baekhyun’s office as soon as he finished his work of the day, hoping that he could catch the CEO in his way out. And maybe they could do… something together? Chanyeol honestly didn’t know what he would say or do if Baekhyun came out. He just had to trust his gut later.

As Chanyeol stood in front of Baekhyun’s building, leaning against his car, he got to look around the area. The three stories building wasn’t at the side of big roads. It was, in fact, surrounded by houses and pretty, little cafes. He noted that even if it was at night, it didn’t seem to be that dangerous around here. Otherwise, he would need Baekhyun to move his office. There was no way he would let his fiance to work or live in dangerous area.

Shit. There he went again. Sometimes his brain just short-circuited. Realizing that he had thought too far once again, Chanyeol shook his head. For the past week, he kept forgetting that Baekhyun wasn’t his fiance, _yet_. And wouldn’t become his “real” fiance either. They would only be bound by contract. But it didn’t mean that Chanyeol wouldn’t take care of him.

His train of thought was stopped abruptly when he saw a familiar figure emerged from behind the glass door. Baekhyun was wearing a simple blue navy shirt underneath his black thin coat. He looked so good it made Chanyeol’s chest tightened. A fleeting thought of _I want him_ was inevitable.

Baekhyun was looking down at his phone so he still didn’t realize that Chanyeol was in front of him. Somehow, it pissed Chanyeol off that Baekhyun wasn’t aware of his surroundings. What if some robber was here instead of Chanyeol?

“Hey,” Chanyeol called out, and Baekhyun jumped, so surprised that it made him took a step back. Chanyeol waited until Baekhyun’s eyes found him, before he spoke again. “You didn’t realize I was here, did you?”

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun looked winded.

“Pay attention to your surroundings, will you?”

Baekhyun ignored his protest. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you?” As if it wasn’t obvious enough. “What about you?”

“I…” Baekhyun paused, and his face turned red in a second. “Nothing. I was just--”

Something alarmed Chanyeol. “Where are you going?” His question this time made Baekhyun even more panicked. Then it clicked. The nice clothes and early clock out. Did Baekhyun…. “You’re going on a date?”

Fucking bingo. Baekhyun looked like a deer caught in headlights. Which pleased and ticked Chanyeol off at the same time. Because it meant that Baekhyun somehow thought that what he did was wrong, but he still went with it anyway.

Chanyeol refused to let his jealousy take over. “Is it with that Jongun guy?”

“It’s Jongin. And I don’t have to tell you anything.” Baekhyun looked at him warily. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”

“I was waiting for you. I thought we could have dinner and talk--”

“I told you I don’t want to talk or see you anymore, Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun was about to walk away, but Chanyeol was having none of it. After a week of no Baekhyun in his life, Chanyeol craved to be with him for longer. So Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s wrist, not letting him walk further. “Don’t go on a date with him.” Chanyeol almost begged. Almost. But he couldn’t throw away his pride. “We both know you don’t even like that jerk.”

“What…” Baekhyun shook his head, but he didn’t looked upset. Sighing, he looked at Chanyeol. His expression told that he was confused and frustrated. “What are you doing, Chanyeol?”

It was such a simple question. One that Baekhyun had asked earlier, and Chanyeol already answered for. But Chanyeol knew that there was another meaning behind this question. “You haven’t even answered my proposal to you yet, shortie. What am I supposed to think? Are you going out with him just to piss me off?”

Baekhyun held up his hand, like he was trying to stop Chanyeol speaking any further. “First, it was a fake proposal. One that has countless of freaking _pages_ of contracts for me to sign. Second, you’re supposed to think that this is probably what I wanted, not accepting your stupid proposal. And third, not everything is about you, you egotistical ass.”

When Baekhyun finished, he was out of breath. Which only made Chanyeol fired up even more. “Maybe everything’s not about me. But this, you go on a random date, must’ve been one.” Chanyeol took a step forward, making the distance between him only a thread away. “You can’t stop to think about me, so you resort to go out with another guy to take your mind off of me.”

One look at Baekhyun’s red face was enough for Chanyeol to know that what he said was true. And didn’t that just make Chanyeol feel like a freaking mountain.

Seeing that Baekhyun still couldn’t answer him, Chanyeol felt a little bold. He put his hand on Baekhyun’s waist and brought him closer. Now with their faces just inches away, Chanyeol was barely hanging. “I don’t want you to go out with him.” Chanyeol could see white fog coming out from his mouth fanned over Baekhyun’s face. “I don’t want you going out with _anyone_.”

Baekhyun didn’t steer away from Chanyeol, not even trying to push him away. He just stood there, looking up at him, with his expression flustered. But Baekhyun immediately schooled his expression. He didn’t let his emotion shown. “Or what?” Looking cold, Baekhyun tilted his head. “Are you going to kiss me again like ten years ago? Then you’ll push me away, throw me away?”

Of course Baekhyun would bring up what had happened in the past. The kiss that Chanyeol cherished and dreaded the most at the same time. If Chanyeol was in the right mind right now, he would back away. But he wasn’t. So he did the only thing that his gut telling him to do. “Damn right, shortie.” Chanyeol leaned down at him until he now could feel Baekhyun’s breath. “I’m going to kiss you, but no way in hell I’m going to throw you away this time.”

Chanyeol’s lips hovered Baekhyun’s for a second, giving him time to retreat, but Baekhyun stayed still, as if waiting for him. And Chanyeol was happy to give in.

Chanyeol pressed his lips against Baekhyun’s. He didn’t need to coax the shorter male to open up for him, Baekhyun already did. His tongue swirled inside Baekhyun’s hot, tasty mouth. Their kiss felt even more incredible than the one they did a decade ago, and that was Chanyeol’s best kiss, until this one. Baekhyun was fucking addicting, and Chanyeol couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had gone ten years without his kiss. Just how could he live without this kiss again?

Experiencing a complete loss of control, Chanyeol began to pant. He drew Baekhyun closer to him until their body practically collided. Speaking over Baekhyun’s lips, Chanyeol said, “Still want to go out with that asshole?”

With his eyes glazed, Baekhyun nodded, but his moan told exactly what Chanyeol wanted to hear. He crashed their lips together again, harder and deeper this time, making sure that even if the love of his life was dead set on going out with another man tonight, his kiss would be all Baekhyun could taste and think about.

When Chanyeol finally drew back, and immediately missing Baekhyun’s mouth, he smirked at how dazed the shorter male was. He was so, so relieved that he still had that effect on him.

“Alright.” Chanyeol let Baekhyun go, but not before giving him one final peck. “Have fun.”

 

 

 

_10 years ago_

Baekhyun was still high from the excitement over their school’s win earlier that day when he entered his room. Never in a million years Baekhyun imagined that Park Chanyeol would be inside his room, sitting on the edge of his bed. His elbows were on his knees while his head was buried on his hands. If not for his ragged breathing, Baekhyun would’ve thought Chanyeol was sleeping.

_Why is he in my room?_

Baekhyun cleared his throat, trying to announce his presence. “Uhm.” Baekhyun closed his door. “Chanyeol, do you need anything?”

The man he called didn’t move, nor did he answer Baekhyun’s question. Chanyeol sat motionless, except for the rise and fall of his chest, leaving Baekhyun standing awkwardly in the corner of his room.

Biting his lower lip, Baekhyun tried to remember what had happened today. Did he somehow upset the tall guy? No, Baekhyun believe he didn’t. Sure, Chanyeol was kind of weird in the field today. His throws were sloppy and he looked like he wasn’t in control of his own strength. But he did the winning throw. So, shouldn’t he feel elated right now?

Rather than that, shouldn’t Chanyeol at the party the groupies throw at Sandy’s bar, not here in Baekhyun’s room?

Couldn’t stand the silence anymore, Baekhyun stepped forward, nearing the motionless guy on his bed. “Hey,” Baekhyun could barely hear his own voice. “You alright there?”

It took a couple of seconds for Chanyeol to raise his head, and Baekhyun almost gasped. Chanyeol looked like a _wreck_. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Chanyeol muttered, his voice sounded raw. "You enjoy seeing me like this?"

Still standing couple feet away from him, Baekhyun could only respond with one word. "What?"

Rubbing his face rather harshly, Chanyeol huffed out a heavy breath, like it was tiring even for him to simply breathing. "You're so fucking clueless."

"Well, I'm sorry if I have no freaking idea what the hell is going on. Enlighten me."

The hard stares Chanyeol was giving him almost made Baekhyun took a step back. His eyes were so intense they were horrifying. “You want me to enlighten you. Really?”

“Uh.” Baekhyun was lost at words. “Sure. I mean, I don't even--”

Baekhyun couldn’t continue what he was going to say since Chanyeol stood up really fast it almost gave him a whiplash, advancing toward him. And in an instant, Chanyeol had towered him, making Baekhyun had to look up to see his face. “If you want me to enlighten you," his voice strangled, Chanyeol inched closer. "I'll gladly do it."

Taking a fistful of Baekhyun's hair with his hand, Chanyeol tilted his head upward. And before Baekhyun knew it, Chanyeol's lips devoured his, and his back was against the door.

Everything happened so fast. Too fast for Baekhyun to comprehend. Chanyeol’s tongue was inside Baekhyun’s mouth, swallowing him, while one of his hand buried in his hair and the other hand on Baekhyun’s back, keeping him close as well as making sure Baekhyun wouldn’t collapse. Because Baekhyun was sure as hell had lost all the energy in his lower region.

Baekhyun should’ve pushed him away. But right now, all he wanted to was to kiss Chanyeol until he fell asleep, tangled in between sheets, and fooled around all night long.

For a few seconds, Baekhyun was frozen solid. He had totally forgot how to kiss, before something snapped in him and Baekhyun found himself desperately met the rhythm of Chanyeol’s kiss, his thrusts, his dominance. Baekhyun moaned into Chanyeol’s mouth, unable to hide his desperation anymore. Pressing his lips deeper, Baekhyun flew his hand to the back of Chanyeol’s neck. It only urged Chanyeol more. He kissed deeper, and his body leaned farther into Baekhyun’s.

_What the fuck is happening?_

Baekhyun didn’t care. All he knew right now was Chanyeol’s kiss, Chanyeol’s tongue, Chanyeol’s breath, Chanyeol’s heat, Chanyeol’s taste, and Chanyeol’s everything.

Chanyeol sucked on Baekhyun’s bottom lip hard before suddenly ripping himself away. “You have no idea,” Chanyeol panted as his lips still ghosted over Baekhyun’s, eyes poison-black. “No fucking idea how much I lo—“

Then something flashed in his eyes, and they suddenly cleared up. Like a basket of ice water just poured over his head. Like he just woke up from a freaking nightmare. The look of shock on his face was something that Baekhyun had never seen before.

All the carnal desire Baekhyun had felt a few seconds ago was pushed all the way back when Chanyeol suddenly yanked himself away from Baekhyun and said, “What the fuck are you doing?”

Embarrassed and raged, Baekhyun fired back. “What am I doing? You’re the one kissing me!”

Chanyeol actually looked like someone who just killed a person. His mouth kept open and closed a number of time, unable to voice out coherent words. “You… what the fuck.”

Baekhyun had to hold the urge to punch the living daylights out of him. How dare he kissed him when he knew that Baekhyun was taken. Sure, Baekhyun wasn’t 100% saint, since he kissed Chanyeol back. But… but… Baekhyun didn’t even have any arguments to defend himself for now. Now, he just want to punch his own face.

“Get out.”

The two words coming out of Chanyeol’s mouth sounded like a mere whisper, but it cut through Baekhyun like a bitch. “What?”

Chanyeol looked at him with crazed, feverish eyes. “I said get out.”

“This is my room.”

“Get out of my house.”

Through all four months Baekhyun knew Chanyeol, he never once thought that the son of his parents’ employer hated him. Although he was always rude to him, sometimes borderline mean, Baekhyun always could sense that the guy never did it out of hatred. Shame, maybe. Or his defense mechanism, a way for Baekhyun to shut up about what he once witnessed in the office of his step father back then.

But right now, as his back was still latched onto the door after Chanyeol pushed him, as he could still feel the rough, hurried touch of Chanyeol’s hands on his nape and waist, as his lips and mouth still warm from the desperate kiss, Baekhyun could see the hatred pouring out of the boy in front of him. Though he didn’t to who the hate directed for. Baekhyun or himself.

“Get out of my house.Or I'll make your parents get fired.”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is. This is the turning point, people. Starting from now, it'll get a lil bit interesting uwu


	4. The Approval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You don’t have to forget it. I don’t ask you to do that or to forgive me. Just let me do this at least. Let me take care of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The intruder/robber bits are inspired by Stucked-Up Suit

“Hello, Kyungsoo?”

_“This better be good, Baekhyun. My date’s gonna be here any minutes.”_

“Ha! Same I have a dinner date too tonight but that’s not what I want to talk about.”

_“What is it?”_

“Park Chanyeol just kissed me.”

_“The what, the who, the how, the when?”_

“Park Chanyeol from high school.”

_“How… the fuck?”_

“You see, I might or might not be hiding something from you from the past few weeks because I don’t even sure myself what the hell is happening. All I have to say is, my life has turned upside down in just weeks.”

_“No shit, Byun Baekhyun. I swear, talk now.”_

“Okay, so, one afternoon he just literally popped into my office and he asked me to marry him.”

_“What the actual fuck?”_

“Oh, shit. I have to go now. I have a dinner date.”

_“With Park Chanyeol?”_

“No, with Jongin. My business partner.”

_“What… kind of chaotic life you’re living right now, Byun Baekhyun?”_

“I know, right? I promise I’ll tell you the whole story later.”

_“You better be, as your ex-boyfriend slash best friend, I deserve a fucking explanation.”_

“Roger, ex-boyfriend slash best friend.”

_“Now go, you dumbass.”_

 

 

“How’s the escargot?”

Baekhyun forced his lips to curl, forming a small smile. “Oh well,” he replied shortly. “I don’t even know how escargot is supposed to taste, so…”

The man sitting across the table in front of him gave a hearty laugh. Jongin had a nice laugh, Baekhyun noticed. He could see why his female employees always swoon over him everytime he came by the office. “Seems like I chose the wrong restaurant, then.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that it isn’t delicious.” Baekhyun noted to himself that he needed to be more attentive to him. This was a _date_ , after all. One that Jongin had been asking for so long. The least he could do was showing the lovely man that he was _here_ , not wondering somewhere else, precisely to the other man who he just kissed an hour ago.

Did Baekhyun just admit to himself that he was indeed kissing Park Chanyeol? God, he was going crazy.

“So, how’s work?” Jongin asked as his hand not stopping to twirl the fettuccini in his big ceramic plate. “I heard that you’ve been searching for sponsors?”

Not the kind of talk that Baekhyun wanted to have at the moment, but work was probably the only thing he and Jongin had in common, for now. What else they were going to talk about other than that?

“Yeah, since Star Foundation got under, we totally lost our bearings. I’m still trying to do my best, though.”

Jongin smiled in understanding. “You could do it, I’m sure. Your company is one of the biggest in the NGO field.”

Baekhyun truly, truly tried his best to focus on what Jongin was saying. Or enjoying the meal called escargot in front of him. But he couldn’t help his mind to stop wandering to a certain kiss, one the he could still feel and taste. He was well-aware that he was being the biggest prick right here, and he probably deserve a good punch for thinking about someone else when clearly, he had a really gorgeous man right here, showing him good intent. He’d like to think that this was Chanyeol’s fault, but deep down he knew that this was all on him.

Baekhyun was so _fucked_.

Despite his rotten appetite, Baekhyun somehow managed to finish his fancy dinner and answered every question Jongin threw at him. It wasn’t his ideal date, but it was decent. Yet not enough.

“Do you want any dessert?”

Baekhyun noticed that the lights in Jongin’s eyes had dimmed. It was like he realized that Baekhyun was one second away from bolting out of the restaurant. Seeing that made Baekhyun felt like shit, but he didn’t want to make this any more uncomfortable for both of them. “No, thanks. I think I’ll just go home,” he answered with a smile.

When they walked out of the restaurant, welcomed by the fresh, cold air, Baekhyun felt like he could finally breathe.

Jongin lingered, “Thank you for coming with me,” he paused. “I’d like to go out with you again… as friends.”

The apology was right at the tip of Baekhyun’s tongue. But he could only manage a small smile. This had been one hell of an awkward night. “Of course. And the pleasure is mine, Jongin. Thank you.”

Baekhyun now realized that he shouldn’t have accepted this date. He really, really shouldn’t be going out with anyone else when he was still confused with his own feelings. Now, he probably just hurt the feelings of his friend and he didn’t know how he could apologize without hurting him even more.

As Baekhyun watched Jongin walked away to his own car, he wondered how he would deal with his problem.

 

 

 

 

 

  _10 Years ago_

 

_What have I done?_

Chanyeol paced around his room. Unable to calm down as soon as he woke up when he remembered what had happened yesterday.

As soon as Chanyeol uttered the ultimatum to Baekhyun--the _stupid_ ultimatum--he immediately left the servant boy’s room. He felt beat, emotionally and physically. He knew that his head wasn’t in the right place and he shouldn’t have said what he said but he had done it, and he thought he could just deal with it the next day.

Right now, the said next day had come, and his head did get a little clearer, but his heart was still a lot messy.

He knew he need to find Baekhyun. He hoped that servant’s son wouldn’t be too stupid to think that Chanyeol was really serious of what he said the previous day.

Half-sprinting toward Baekhyun’s room, Chanyeol’s heart thundered so hard it felt almost like exploding. He didn’t care if he looked like a mess. He just needed to make sure that he didn’t just do the stupidest thing ever.

By the time he arrived at Baekhyun’s door, he didn’t waste time to be nervous or doubt himself. He put his knuckles on the door, knocking rather hardly. He was too agitated to control his own strength.

“Baekhyun.” His voice strangled. “Baekhyun, open the door.”

The pump of adrenaline began to dissipate. Chanyeol could feel his hand tremble and his legs gave out.

“Baek--”

“Master Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol spun around to the voice of woman he wasn’t really familiar with, yet her feature wasn’t foreign. It was Baekhyun’s mother. “Uhm… Mrs. Byun.” He bowed. He might be a little bit of jerk, but he still knew how to respect the elders.

“You're looking for Baekhyun.” It wasn't a question. In fact, it was a little bit deadpan. Like she was stating a fact that the world was round. The lady was trying to tie her apron as he approached him.

Chanyeol cleared his throat. “Yeah, do you know where he is? I need… uhm--”

“Yesterday he came to me, cry--saying that he needed to move out.”

Mrs. Byun was a polite woman. Extremely even. But at that time Chanyeol could feel in every fiber of his being that he was openly judged by the woman. Like he was a complete, utter shit of human being. And he felt like one.

Her face was hard, and at that moment, Chanyeol knew that she knew.

_“Get out of my house. Or I'll make your parents get fired.”_

Chanyeol was the lowest person in the world.

Mrs. Byun took a deep breath, and her face turned neutral again. “He requested to move out from the house, so he’s not here anymore, master.”

“Mrs. Byun, I--”

“If you could excuse me, Master.” The woman bowed, not caring about Chanyeol crumbling in front of her.

Before she could walk far, he called for her desperately. “He… I could see him at school though, right?” If he still could see Baekhyun at school, then it was fine, he could talk to him and apologize later. As long as Baekhyun didn’t really disappear on him. As long as…

Through his shaking vision, Chanyeol could see for a split second that her gaze turn sad, like she was pitying him. “Maybe,” she answered shortly, and it managed to stop Chanyeol’s breath.

From that day onwards, Chanyeol might as well consider himself not living, since he had given a piece of his heart to the boy he kissed and pushed away at the same time, and that boy never came back, never showed up in front of Chanyeol ever again.

  


When Baekhyun arrived at his apartment, he didn’t expect to find a grown-up male crouching down in front of his front door, his head tucked in between his knees.

“Chanyeol?” he called out.

Why did this scene right here seemed familiar? Right, because this really had happened before in the past. The difference was back then Chanyeol was sitting on his bed in his basement room at the Park’s mansion. And another difference was the fact that back then Chanyeol looked furious, now the grown-up version of him was looking… sad?

“Hey,” Chanyeol said as soon as he held his head up and found Baekhyun in front of him. “You’re back?”

Chanyeol was still wearing the same clothes he wore a couple of hours ago. Did he wait for Baekhyun here all this time? “Why are you here? And how could you know my home?”

Chanyeol chuckled and brought himself up, making Baekhyun now had to look up at him. “Come on, shortie, you think I wouldn’t be able to find out?”

“Is it Junmyeon? And you still haven’t answered my first question.”

“Are we doing this here where all your neighbor could hear? And no, I didn’t have it from Junmyeon. My secretary dig it for me. And the reason why I am here, isn’t it obvious?”

The trace of sadness from his eyes had been washed away, but Baekhyun could still see the remnants of the insecurities behind it. He decided to brush it off. He would never understand this man anyway.

“You’re blocking my entry. Move away,” Baekhyun tried to sound harsh, but even to his ears, he sounded so calm.

Chanyeol did as Baekhyun said. He was uncharacteristically obedient and Baekhyun was  confused.

Baekhyun decided to ignore it for now as he entered the code to his apartment--the date of his birthday backwards—while also trying to shield it from Chanyeol’s vision. He couldn’t have this man enter his house without his permission.

Entering his pitch black house, Baekhyun instantly looked for the light switch in the entryway. Leaving Chanyeol behind, he started to look around his house, checking room after room. His room, his bathroom, his kitchen, even his closet. Once he was sure that no one was inside his apartment and nothing was out of place, he finally could breathe in.

Forgetting that he had a guest, he almost jumped when he saw Chanyeol’s looming figure entering his kitchen.

“What was that?” Chanyeol’s brows arched. There was an obvious concern in both his tone and his expression.

“Nothing.” Baekhyun shrugged, taking off his coat.

“Don’t shit me. You just spent a good ten minutes checking every crook and nook of your apartment.” Chanyeol truly looked confused right now. “You… what were you doing?”

Baekhyun exhaled a heavy breath. He was tired from the long day. He wanted to unwind as soon as possible, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to as long as Chanyeol was here, demanding explanation. Baekhyun was too exhausted to do any argument right now. “Just checking the house.”

“What for?”

“For intruder,” Baekhyun answered nonchalantly, although every time he did the inspection once he was home it was anything but nonchalant.

“For intruder,” Chanyeol deadpanned. “You mean your neighborhood here isn’t safe?”

“Probably.”

“What do you mean probably?”

“I just had to check.”

“Alright,” Chanyeol walked toward him in an unhurried, careful manner. Baekhyun hated it. This wasn’t like the usual Chanyeol. This Chanyeol was gentle and… so concerned. “You gotta tell me what’s going on here, shortie. Because I just witnessed you roam around your own apartment for ten minutes like you were expecting someone would come out of nowhere.”

That was because he did. Every single time he came home, Baekhyun truly felt someone would probably jump out of nowhere and kill him. “Is it… weird?”

Chanyeol shook his head, and their distance was almost non-existent right now. They were only inches away. “I’m not saying it’s weird. You just looked… scared.”

Baekhyun bit his lower lip and had to stifle a gasp when Chanyeol’s hand reached out to him, cupping his cheek. His heart thundered in his chest, but oddly, he felt the safest right now. Something in Chanyeol’s warm, soft touch made him opened his mouth and talked. “When I was in college, I came home to my dorm and someone, robbers, were inside my room, and I was almost killed.”

It was like Baekhyun saw it frame by frame. Chanyeol’s expression changed slowly, first it was shocked, then confused, then rage, before finally it settled with appalled. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

The grave tone in his voice made Baekhyun’s stomach churn. _Why? Just why he sounds so caring?_ Trying to ignore the funny feeling that had been constantly happening to him every time Chanyeol was at least in the 20 meters proximity, Baekhyun shrugged, pretending that it was nothing. While basically the whole ordeal had changed his life. “Well,” he trailed off. “True story.”

Chanyeol’s hard gaze almost pierced Baekhyun. “Someone tried to kill you?” he asked breathlessly. “What the fuck?”

A shiver zipped down Baekhyun’s spine, and it didn’t have anything to do with the cold chilly air inside his apartment. “They must’ve known my schedule. I came home earlier that day, so they were still in the midst of taking out my computer.”

Baekhyun could see Chanyeol’s adam’s apple bobbing as the hand on his cheek turned cold. “How many of them? How… bad did they hurt you?”

This was weird. This was too strange for comfort. This was a whole other persona that Baekhyun knew. This wasn’t Chanyeol--the Chanyeol ten years ago. The few times they met recently, Chanyeol had constantly reminded him why he hated him. He was arrogant and hot-headed. But at the same time, he was also really gentle and understanding, and honestly Baekhyun didn’t know how in the hell those traits could blend together and _worked_.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol called, his voice was an octave lower. “Answer me, please.”

Never in a million years Baekhyun thought he would tell this story to his mortal enemy. “Two men. The accident… wasn’t a good one.” Baekhyun tried to sound neutral but his voice came out with a rough edge instead.

Chanyeol broke his gaze and lowered his head. There was no sound in the room, save for Chanyeol’s ragged breath.

Baekhyun bit his lip, starting to feel uncomfortable by the suffocating air. “Chan--”

“Marry me, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol said all of a sudden, lifting his head up, meeting Baekhyun’s eyes once again.

There were a million things Chanyeol didn’t say, it showed through his eyes. And Baekhyun really wanted to know what they were. “Why?” he replied with a question. “What are you after?”

There was pages of contract on his desk at the office, telling him a bunch of benefits he and his company would get if he married this enemy of him. Baekhyun basically had no reason to reject to marry him. All because it was a condition Chanyeol had to meet if he wanted to be a CEO. But, Baekhyun had a feeling that those were not all.

“You’ve seen my conditions in my contract. And I...” Chanyeol licked his lips. There was a foreign glint in his eyes that Baekhyun couldn’t recognize. “I will take care of you.”

If it were a week ago when they first met, Baekhyun might question whether that was true, or rather straight up not believe in it. But now, he had no doubt whatsoever that Chanyeol really meant it. “Take care of me…” he croaked out. “Now that you think I have some kind of bad experience--”

“I know damn well that you could protect yourself. You could stand on your own,” Chanyeol hissed. “I just… goddammit, Byun Baekhyun. You and your obliviousness.”

Baekhyun pinched his temple. “I don’t understand you, Chanyeol. Especially these past few days. You confused me, enraged me, and now you said you want to take care of me. Just how did you expect me to forget what you did to me all those years ago?”

“You don’t have to forget it. I don’t ask you to do that or to forgive me. Just let me do this at least. Let me take care of you.”

His heart thundered in his chest, his ears started to ring. Even he could feel that his eyes had turned glazy. Baekhyun was too tired for this. But he knew that Chanyeol was relentless. The most stubborn man that had walked the earth. He wouldn’t let this go until Baekhyun said yes.

 _God help me, I must be crazy_. Baekhyun shook his head and blurted out the unthinkable before he had the time to ponder it and take it back. “I’ll send the signed contract tomorrow. I’ll marry you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the messy and short chapter. But don't worry the next 3 chapters are all more than 4k, and the development of their relationship start now!  
> Baekhyun's trauma will siurely take part more in upcoming chapters. I can't wait until I could write more Kyungsoo tho~


	5. The Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Three years of being in a relationship with you will be the equivalent of thirty years."

It was the first morning since ten years ago that Chanyeol woke up with a smile.

A genuine one, at least.

Chanyeol wanted to lay in his bed all morning, all day, just enjoying the fact that finally-- _ fucking finally _ \--he got  _ the _ guy. He got Byun Baekhyun. Now the man in his dream had agreed to become his fiance.

_ My fiance _ .

But damn, he didn’t have time to marvel over that fact. His schedule for the day was too packed for him to laze around and daydreaming. He had a board meeting all morning, and in afternoon, he needed to take care of the matter of his contract with Baekhyun, and also another thing that needed to be done quickly. Something related to what Baekhyun had told him last night.

Reaching over his nightstand to take his fancy Rolex watch, Chanyeol cursed when he saw the time. Joohyun would definitely scold him if he didn’t arrived for their little briefing before the board meeting. Just as he was about to get off the bed, his phone rang.

Without checking the caller ID, Chanyeol put the phone between his ear and his shoulder while his hands were busy, searching for his pajama pants in the bundle of his thick blanket. “Hello?”

“Hello, fiance.”

Chanyeol would recognize that sweet, sarcastic voice anywhere, anytime. A grin creeped into his face when he realized that this was the first time Baekhyun had called him first. The first day of their agreement was looking good, despite the fact that he knew the nickname Baekhyun just said to him was nothing but mock toward their relationship.

“Morning, shortie.”

Baekhyun didn’t even bother to reply to his morning greeting. “Are we still going to meet today to sign the contract?”

Like Chanyeol could wait another day not having Baekhyun as his official fiance. “This afternoon, yeah.”

Chanyeol finally found his pants and hurriedly put it on. He would love to stay in bed while keep on the call with Baekhyun, but he had a meeting to attend. So he got to his feet rushing toward his bathroom. 

“Aw, shit,” Baekhyun groaned from the other side. “I have to go somewhere until maybe past two. I don’t think I could make it.”

If Chanyeol didn’t know better, he would think that he was dreaming. Who would’ve known that he and Baekhyun could talk so casually like this?

“What is it? A meeting?” Chanyeol asked as he took his place in front of a big mirror, looking at his reflection, topless with wild, messy hair and big smile on his face. “You want me to get you so we could meet?”

“Didn’t I just say that I don’t think I could make it?” Baekhyun replied with an annoyed tone.

“We could have lunch together. Or something.”

Baekhyun didn’t immediately reply this time. And Chanyeol took the silence as his cue to start brushing his teeth. He was mid-brushing his front teeth when he heard Baekhyun sighing. “We might be engaged, but no way that we’re together, Chanyeol.”

Gritting his teeth, Chanyeol decided to cut his brushing session short and cleaned his mouth before he replied to his fiance. “Together or not, you’re still my fiance all the same. There’s nothing wrong if we hang out.”

“Sure, there’s nothing wrong with it. The problem is whether I  _ want _ to or not,” Baekhyun bit back. There was a sound of car door being opened and closed from his side. Not long after, the sound of engine was heard. He must’ve been on his way to work.

“Whatever, Byun. We’re having late lunch together. I’ll get you at your office at 3PM?”

“No, we’re not.” Came the quick answer.

Chuckling, Chanyeol felt like he could do this all day. “See you later, shortcake.”

And the sound of fake gagging from the other side of the line was the last thing he heard before he cut their morning call. The smile on his face lasted even through the annoying board meeting that afternoon.

  
  
  
  
  


It wasn’t how Baekhyun expected the meeting to go down. The twisted knot in the pit of his stomach didn’t loosen even after he excused himself early from the meeting room after the dreadful investors meeting had wrapped up. His head was hurting from the tension and he blinked the sudden tears that spring to his eyes.

 

He was frustrated, but not desperate. He still had his pride for his own company. There was no way he would take a jab to his company without retortion. Now that his potential investor didn’t seem as interested as before, his company was left without investors once more.

_ Hold it together. _

Junmyeon was still inside the meeting room, saying the polite slash bullshit goodbyes while Baekhyun was no longer had enough will to be in that room. He quickly went down to the ground floor, desperate to even get out of the damn building.

Baekhyun wanted to ignore everything around him--for as long as humanly possible--only to run smack into hard chest.  "Sorry, I--"

"Why are you running like that? Someone's tailing you?"

Baekhyun looked up to Chanyeol's brown eyes. "Chanyeol? What're you doing here?"

Chanyeol must've seen how rattled he looked right now, because his amused expression had turned into concern. No matter how many times Baekhyun had seen the rare expression recently, it was still weird to witness it. "What's wrong?" Chanyeol glanced behind Baekhyun, like he was truly expecting that someone actually ran after him.

"Nothing. Just..." When did their relationship turned into something where they could tell each other everything? "Bad meeting."

Eyebrows creased, Chanyeol took his wrist and brought him closer. "Who was it? Jihoon and Yongguk?"

"You know them?" Of course he would know them. Their companies were aligned in the industry.

"Did they fuck with you?"

Well, how to answer to that. Baekhyun wouldn't let Chanyeol know how people were able to ridicule his company. "No. Will you drop it? How did you even know that I’m here?"

Chanyeol stared at down at him, pondering whether he was just trying to change the subject. Well damn, the man could see right through him, but it wasn't like Baekhyun would blatantly show his weakness. Shaking his head, like he was trying to shift his train of thoughts, Chanyeol muttered. "Alright, whatever," then he looked back at Baekhyun. "I told you we're gonna have lunch together, right?"

Baekhyun tilted his head. "I didn't agree to that. Besides, you said we're gonna meet at my office."

"Change of plans. Let's have lunch at your place. I'll cook."

_ What? _

"You're cooking? For me?" Baekhyun was sure that he looked stupidly shocked right now. “Who the hell are you?”

The corners of Chanyeol's mouth turned up and he looked amused. “Park Chanyeol. Your fiance.”

Baekhyun now genuinely wanted to gag, but at the same time he could feel his stomach flutter. “Stop throwing that word around. And just because now we have titles for our relationship you don't have to act like it.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and brought his hand to the small of Baekhyun's back to lead him toward the exit door of the lobby. “I’ll act however I want,” he said with crude tone, but his touch was gentle. “Besides, I have something for you to see at your apartment.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Chanyeol nodded to the chauffeur who was waiting by the side of a black, slick Mercedes--Chanyeol’s.

“I brought my own car, you know.” Baekhyun stopped before Chanyeol opened the door of the passenger side of his car. “And what do I need to see in my apartment? Don't say that it was engagement gifts, please.”

Chanyeol sighed deeply, like he was truly exasperated. “God, shortie, you really do have so many question, don’t you? I told you you’ll see, dumbass. And as for your car, let Junmyeon return it. You come with me.”

“Is this what it takes to be your fiance?” Baekhyun almost physically squirmed for calling himself ‘Chanyeol’s fiance’ out loud. “You’re so bossy. I think we need to have some restriction here.”

Rolling his eyes rather exaggeratedly, Chanyeol guided him to get inside the car. “And you talk too much,” he said, but his words had no bite. “We could discuss our contract later, and you could see the restrictions and what not.”

Baekhyun sneered as he followed his gaze on Chanyeol who was walking around his car. The man was exuding confidence vibe and it reminded Baekhyun a lot when they were in high school. The difference was that the Chanyeol who was sitting beside him inside his car right now had this foreign warmth in his eyes every time he looked at him. And honestly, Baekhyun had no idea how to respond to that.

“What?” Chanyeol asked, his fingers hovered over the car’s ignition. The sound of the car started filled the silence since Baekhyun didn’t answer. “Put on your seatbelt.”

Feeling his cheeks getting warm for getting too focused on Chanyeol, Baekhyun cleared his throat. “You don’t have to tell me,” he murmured.

“Well, obviously you’re too mesmerized with my face rather than your basic safety.” Chanyeol smirked and started to move the car, making Baekhyun had not time to get back at him.

Baekhyun realized that this was the first time he was inside Chanyeol’s car, but what he made him a little bit nervous was the fact that this was the first time they were together in a such tiny space together alone since that time in Baekhyun’s room ten years ago. 

As their car finally reached the main road, Baekhyun shook his head, forcing to block his mind on remembering the cursed past of his.

  
  
  
  
  


Chanyeol had been trying to cut back his daily dose of coffee to two cup, and his quota for the day was up, but right now he desperately needed it to focus his mind. It was coffee or drink. And drinking while he was with Baekhyun was out of question. 

He definitely would request it later from Baekhyun, since there was other matter he wanted to discuss right now. But Baekhyun’s sharp eyes beat him to it.

Baekhyun froze right in front of his flat’s door, his eyes landed on some blinking red light from a black device right on top of his door. “Uhm,” Baekhyun croaked. “I think I need to call the landlord.”

Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun’s hand that reaching his phone in his pants pocket. “Wait. That’s me. I put the device there.”

Baekhyun pulled back suddenly, as if burned. “You what?”

“I put on some device to alert you if there were intruders in your home,” Chanyeol muttered confidently at first, but as he watched Baekhyun’s face changed from surprised to confused, he wondered if he had crossed a line. “It’s not only a standard camera. If there were forced break-in, it’ll alert you and the company immediately. The device also connected to my phone, so it’ll alert me too. The company even will help you call the police.”

After what Baekhyun told him last night and what Chanyeol had witnessed of him being cautious and afraid in his own home, there was no way that he would do nothing about the situation. If he couldn’t be with Baekhyun every time he was home, this was the least Chanyeol could do for his new fiance.

“You…” Baekhyun blinked. “You did that for me?”

The look Baekhyun gave him make his chest swelled. For so long, Chanyeol knew that this was one thing he had done right. “Of course.”

“Uhm,” Baekhyun broke their eye contacts. Chanyeol thought he could see his cheeks flaming. “Thank you. Though, really, you don’t have to do it. It’s not necessary.”

“Well, it is. Somebody had to do it. And if it wasn’t you, then who else other than me?”

Baekhyun bit his lip, and it almost made Chanyeol chuckled but he held it in. The shortie was so stubborn to not let his gratitude shown. It was cute.

“Okay,” Baekhyun said, his voice breaking. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Okay. Let’s get inside.”

  
  
  
  
  


Baekhyun started to think that the marriage deal going on between him and his teen crush slash enemy was a really, really bad idea. He knew that it was bad since the beginning, but now he thought that this might end in a disaster as bad as ten years ago.

Because  _ feelings _ .

Yes, feelings had started to take over the reign in his stupid heart, and he knew too well what would happen if feelings were involved when it came to dealing with Park Chanyeol.

And after the security camera shit Chanyeol pulled back there, it wasn’t Baekhyun’s fault to feel this way. His stomach fluttered, his heart palpitated. Not his fault at all.

Baekhyun didn’t try to understand why would Chanyeol do that for him. He stopped doing that since yesterday, or else he was going to be confused all along. But God, Chanyeol was pulling strings in his heart and Baekhyun didn’t know if he liked it or not.

As Baekhyun finished his routine to check every room in his house to make sure that his house was safe, he found Chanyeol standing in his kitchen, rummaging his cabinets. “What are you doing?”

“I told you I’m going to cook for you, remember?” Chanyeol turned around to see him. He had a freaking egg in his hand and onion in his other hand. He grinned, but his expression turned serious in a split second. “Done with the checking?”

“Yeah.”

This was why Baekhyun didn’t want anyone to know that routine of his. When the first time his parents witnessed it, they freaked out. Even his mom cried, deeply saddened because she thought her son was deeply traumatized. Maybe she was right, but Baekhyun didn’t like to be seen as some kind of a broken object.

Chanyeol was no different. Baekhyun could see how his face changed after he heard Baekhyun’s so-called traumatic experience. He was worried, which made Baekhyun confused why he would feel that way. And now he took the initiative to put up security for him. Baekhyun honestly didn’t have any way to object the gesture, since it was something that he wanted to for long too but had no time to do so.

“You have nothing but egg and tofu,” Chanyeol deadpanned. His attention was focus on the inside of Baekhyun’s refrigerator.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he took off his blazer, sitting on his dining room. “Usually when you offer to feed someone, you provide the ingredients.”

“Seriously? I cook, and I also have to be the one who buy the ingredients?”

“I don’t even agree to this.”

Chanyeol threw him a glare, but even Baekhyun could see it was a fake one. His lips were curled slowly, forming a smirk. “You’re lucky I could turn even egg and tofu into something fantastic.”

Baekhyun would like to reply it with another snarky remark, but Chanyeol was already gone to the part of kitchen where Baekhyun couldn’t see him. Furrowing his brows, Baekhyun stood up to approach the taller man. “You really will cook for me?”

Chanyeol chuckled as he turned on the electric stove. “Why is it so hard for you to believe it?”

“Well, you didn’t give me that many reasons to trust you.” Baekhyun quickly bit his tongue. Okay, that was way serious than he intended to. And Chanyeol seemed to pick up on that too.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Why did he say that? Baekhyun wanted to punch himself. Now the atmosphere was kinda awkward.

Chanyeol said nothing for a second, but then he shook his head and back to his cooking. “Set the table. There’s a lot we need to talk about.”

Well, this was rather awkward.

The initial mood was awkward, but at least it was a good one. This one, though, Baekhyun could feel irritation radiating from his kitchen. Not that Baekhyun cared he make Chanyeol’s mood rotten, but if he needed to face it then he prefered the usual Chanyeol all the way.

By the time Baekhyun finished preparing the dining table, Chanyeol was almost finished with whatever he had been cooking of. And his feature was still marred by his ugly frown.

“I could make omelette,” Chanyeol clipped, as he put down the plate.

Baekhyun shrugged. “I’m not complaining.”

“Good.”

Biting the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t utter another stupid thing, Baekhyun faked his enthusiasm. “Can’t wait to try it.”

If Chanyeol could see right through his fakeness, he certainly didn’t show it as his lips were pulled sideways slightly, clearly amused. “Eat. We’ll talk after.”

They ate in silent, and turned out, Chanyeol  _ could  _ cook. Very well, even, given the fact that he only made a simple omelette with tofu. For the duration of them eating, Baekhyun completely forgot everything that had happened today and actually enjoyed the food. The time was three o’clock, and he realized his appetite wasn't really uncalled for.

When the both of them finished, Chanyeol was the one who got up and took their plates. “How was it?”

Baekhyun licked his lips, and he still could taste the delicious sauce Chanyeol made. “Let's say that my tummy is kinda happy right now.”

It seemed like the comment was exactly what Chanyeol wanted to hear as he was smiling normally. “Told you I can cook.”

Yeah, well, Baekhyun admitted that there were so many things about Chanyeol that endlessly surprised him. It was either he really didn't know him ten years ago or Chanyeol had changed so much for the past ten years.

“So,” Chanyeol sat down once he settled out all the dirty plates, then folded his hands on the table. “Shall we start?”

  
  
  
  
  


Chanyeol honestly thought he was being childish. He shouldn't have felt offended by Baekhyun's comment earlier. But he did anyway. What Baekhyun said make sense. If Chanyeol was Baekhyun, he wouldn't trust him either. But he thought... he thought they were passed that. Who was he kidding though? He knew more than anyone else that the past couldn't rewrite the present that easily. Baekhyun had all reasons in the world to doubt him.

"Maybe you want to bring your pen," Chanyeol said as he pulled out the document that he had written exactly a week ago as soon as he launched his brilliant idea to marry the guy in front of him. It was six pages document, and he made it two copies for the both of them each.

"Oh, right." Baekhyun got up from his chair and went off to look for his suitcase, retrieving his pen. When he came back, the slight frown in his forehead didn't go unnoticed by Chanyeol.

"Something's wrong?"

"No, just--" Baekhyun bit his lip, gaze not meeting Chanyeol's. "It just dawned on me that this is really happening."

"And?"  _ Please don't say you chickened out. Please don't. Please _ . Chanyeol could practically see the turmoil within him. How the gears in Baekhyun's brain turned, contemplating the pros and cons which probably had been running around his mind numerous times already.

But it didn't take long before Baekhyun shook his head, like he was trying to shake the doubt in him. Or maybe he just didn't want to prolong this much longer. "Nothing. Let's just get this over with," he said with a sigh.

The force of him exhaling the breath he'd been holding was almost violent. Chanyeol blinked a few times to let his heart calm down. What the hell? Why did he have to be so nervous about this? "Okay, uhm." His voice cracked. Great. "This is the contract I've made," he said, as he slid the six pages contract across the table. "You could read every detail of our marriage and business contract there."

And with that, Baekhyun picked up the document and studied it. Chanyeol let his soon-to-be husband by contract to take his time to read every single details in peace. After all, what they did here was not a laughing matter. This was a legit serious business. They were dealing with laws.

He made the contract clear. Basically, it said that their status was going to be fiances as soon as the contract been signed. Before the wedding--which would take place in six months--Chanyeol's company would become the major sponsor for Baekhyun's company. By the event of their wedding, they would merge their company, making Baekhyun one of the stakeholder of Chanyeol's company, and vice versa, as soon as Chanyeol was promoted as CEO of his company. And the most important thing of the contract: they would be married for two years and a half before they would get divorce, marking their overall contract three years in total. After the divorce, they would renew the contract for their business.

All in all, the contract Chanyeol made was extremely profitable for both of them. Baekhyun wouldn't have to be worried about sponsor for a whole three years, as well as becoming one of the stakeholder of a big company like Chanyeol’s. And for Chanyeol, he got to be the CEO and kicked his step-father and step-brother from the throne. It was perfect, except the fact they just had to suck it up for the marriage part. Chanyeol obviously didn’t have complains about the latter, but Baekhyun...

Baekhyun put down the contract on the table. His expression unreadable.

Gnawing the inside of his cheek nervously, Baekhyun tapped his pen on the table repeatedly. "Well, damn," he muttered shortly. "That was..."

"Good, isn't it?" Chanyeol would at least pat himself on the back for that. He had made a pretty good deal for both of them.

"It's... great." For the first time since Baekhyun sat down to discuss about their contract, he looked at Chanyeol directly. "You made sure that there was no way I would turn down this offer, didn't you?"

Chanyeol grinned. "Maybe."

Baekhyun got back to the contract. Once again going through every points, every pages, making sure that he didn't miss everything. Chanyeol expected nothing less from him. Baekhyun was a professional like him. He wouldn't let himself got in trouble just because he wasn't careful.

After a good ten minutes of Baekhyun going back and forth from the first page to the last page, Baekhyun finally put down the contract for good. "Alright." He exhaled.

Chanyeol's brows rose. "Alright?"

"I can't say I'm not satisfied with it." Baekhyun folded his hands on the table, leaning forward. "The conditions are great. You're going to be my sponsor, and I'm gonna be your stakeholder."

"But?" The unsaid  _ but _ wasn't unheard.

"But... three years?" Baekhyun asked, his voice got quiet, trailed off at the end.

Amusement bubbled inside Chanyeol. He knew it. He knew that the man would question the period of their fake relationship. "It's not that long, right?"

"Three years of being in a relationship with you will be the equivalent of thirty years," Baekhyun bit back.

Chanyeol couldn't help but smile. Baekhyun had returned to his usual demeanor, and the tensed and awkward atmosphere between them had gone. The guy in front of him had an annoyed expression, but it was with a hint of smile. Maybe the contract he made was indeed really great, huh?

“What about the marriage contract?” Baekhyun asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, the nature of our relationship. What we can do and cannot do?”

Boy, that was such a loaded question. Chanyeol couldn't really say that he hadn't thought about it. The prospect of being in a relationship--whether it was fake or not--with Baekhyun was thrilling. To be able to call him his fiance, his husband--call him  _ his _ \--was probably close to impossible if this opportunity hadn't raised.

"Well," Chanyeol started. "Obviously, we need to act like this is the real deal. So people gonna need to know. Our family, our friends, our colleague." If it could go the way Chanyeol wanted, he would have everyone in the world know about them.

Baekhyun grimaced, like the prospect of it was already a nightmare for him. But he still nodded in the end. "Okay. That, I could manage. What else?"

Chanyeol guessed the condition he gave Baekhyun for their business contract was so generous that Baekhyun let him set the relationship rules for them. "We have to meet often. Like today, if I asked you to meet, please don't go out of your way to reject me."

Baekhyun pouted at that, crossing his arms on his chest. "Seriously? Why does it have anything to do with us being fiances?"

"So people will see us together, obviously. Make them believe that we actually together."

What Chanyeol had said so far was reasonable. It rendered Baekhyun nothing to protest. "What else?" he grumbled.

This one he was going to say next was the most important thing that Chanyeol needed Baekhyun to understand and do. Not because he was afraid that people would find out that they were faking it or anything. But it solely because when he said that Baekhyun was his, he wanted him to be really his and his alone. "You can't date anyone else. I get it that we're technically just fiances bound by contract. But we're  _ exclusive _ . For the period of our contract, I won't see anyone else, and neither will you."

Baekhyun was stubborn, that part of his was what made Chanyeol going crazy about him. But Chanyeol was ready to be  _ more _ stubborn than Baekhyun regarding this matter. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He expected Baekhyun to protest, or at least sneered at him. But Baekhyun only lowering his head as he looked at the contract on the table, before he finally gripped his pen tighter and signed the contract with one suave pull.

Then he looked up with a determined gaze directed at Chanyeol. “Deal.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fluff chapters incoming <3


	6. The Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Something's bothering you?"
> 
> Baekhyun stiffened. He was so easy to read or maybe Chanyeol just put too much attention on him. "Nothing," he answered, fidgeting on his seat. "Just wondering about something unimportant."
> 
> That only made Chanyeol more curious. "Shoot. You can ask me anything."

Park Chanyeol was… something. He was persistent and stubborn and strong-willed.

 

When he said that he wanted the both of them to meet often, he meant it. Baekhyun wondered if the company wasn't own by his family, would he get fired for always leaving his office halfway through the day almost everyday.

 

 _I rather spend my time to disturb you than deal with a bunch of weekly report behind my desk,_ he said when Baekhyun asked him about his work. In conclusion, Baekhyun was beyond annoyed but it didn't mean he didn't appreciate the attention he got. He admitted it feel nice to have… someone.

 

Honestly, after two weeks of being officially engaged to the soon-to-be CEO, Baekhyun didn’t feel much different. Initially, he thought it would be overwhelming and annoying the whole time. But the lack of abnormality--like this was just as natural as it could be--was what had bothered Baekhyun the most. This felt way too comfortable.

 

It had become the second nature for him to wait for Chanyeol to pick him up when he was out of business meeting now, or for both of them to have lunch together. It was weird, yet strangely pleasant. Given the fact how rocky their relationship ten years ago and also when they met again recently, Baekhyun was surprised with this development. Although every time they met, all they did just bickering back and forth, Baekhyun enjoyed every second of it.

 

In a span of two weeks of the being “together”, they had shared practically everything. Chanyeol knew his schedule, knew the state of his company, knew how his business work, or just the mundane things, like how Baekhyun took his coffee, or his favorite music, or how Baekhyun had hard time to fall asleep every night but refused to call it insomnia, or some other things that no one other than Chanyeol knew.

 

If his past self of ten years ago knew about his situation right now, he would never believe it in a million years. But this was happening, for real. And his brain refused the acknowledged the absurdity of this absurd situation.

 

“So, next month we’re gonna have to make sure the list of the titles we’re going to take for the donation. Also the list of cities and countries we’re gonna donate them too,” Baekhyun said to his business partner, Mr. Cho, concluding the meeting.

 

Mr. Cho, a middle age man with his head already shown a sign of balding, was a founder of another popular NGO like Baekhyun's. Their partnership had ran for almost a year now and it had been great, although the man was kinda obnoxious sometimes, but Baekhyun could manage. After all, no matter how annoying people were, no one was more annoying than his fiance.

 

“Wonderful. I'll see you on Monday, then?” Mr. Cho got up from his seat after he finished his hot americano, prompting to leave. The coffee shop where they held the meeting was starting to get crowded as the clock slowly reached the lunch hour.

 

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Cho.” Baekhyun got up too and bowed to the man. “I'll make the timeline of this project and send it to you soon. By tonight, I hope.”

 

“No need to hurry. You could send it to me tomorrow. It's okay. Then I'll go--oh…” Mr. Cho stopped on his track when he spotted someone behind Baekhyun. “May I help you, sir?”

 

Baekhyun whipped himself around, only to be faced with his fiance's tall figure, forcing him to look up. “Great,” Baekhyun said, in a tone of voice which indicated that it was anything but.

 

The thing was, Baekhyun’s heart actually skipped a beat when he saw Chanyeol smile politely at Mr. Cho as he put himself beside Baekhyun, circling his arm around his waist while his other hand extended to shake the middle age man. “Good afternoon. I’m Park Chanyeol. Nice to meet you…”

 

“Cho Jaehyun.” Mr. Cho reached out to meet Chanyeol’s arm, and the man’s eyes dropped to where Chanyeol’s arm was holding Baekhyun. “Uhm, are you…”

 

Baekhyun couldn’t help but felt embarrassed everytime Chanyeol did this. It was always the same order. First, Chanyeol would smirk, then his smirk turned into a smile, then the smile became impossibly wide, before finally he said, “I’m Baekhyun’s fiance,” with a high tone, like he was proud of it. Genuinely proud to introduce himself as Baekhyun’s fiance.

 

Just how did he expect Baekhyun to react to that, honestly?

 

“Oh, wow,” Mr. Cho blinked, obviously didn’t expect the admission at all--most people were. Then he smiled. “Only a few months we didn’t work together and you’re already engaged, Mr. Byun.” Mr. Cho glanced at Baekhyun’s fingers, undoubtedly searching for _the ring_.

 

And Chanyeol obviously caught the brief glance. “Yeah, it was recent and a bit sudden,” he chuckled. “Didn’t even have the time to buy a ring yet.”

 

Which was a lie. Baekhyun was sure that Chanyeol probably couldn’t care less about buying him a ring.

 

Baekhyun started to squirm uncomfortably, hoping that Chanyeol could get the hint to get his hand off his waist. But to no avail…

 

“Well, better buy that ring soon, Mr. Park,” Mr. Cho laughed, as he began to pick his things up from their table, ready to leave. “Mr. Byun is pretty popular in our line of work. Even I thought he was dating Mr. Kim because they looked close and Mr. Kim was always so attentive towards him.”

 

Baekhyun flinched as he felt Chanyeol’s hold on him tightened. For Mr. Cho’s credits, the man probably didn’t think that his words were harmful. But, oh boy. He didn’t know that Park Chanyeol was a possessive kind of fake fiance either.

 

“Once again, thank you for your time, Mr. Cho.” Now Baekhyun forced himself out of Chanyeol’s grasp. He shook the man’s hand and turned his body, following Mr. Cho until he was out of the cafe.

 

And everything suddenly went quiet.

 

Baekhyun turned back to face Chanyeol. “Would you stop that?” he huffed.

 

Chanyeol’s sweet expression had vanished, replaced with something akin to an ugly scowl. “Stop what? And is the Mr. Kim he meant Kim Jongin, the guy you had a date with a few weeks ago?” he threw the question back, sitting at the seat where Mr. Cho previously seated.

 

See? What did he say before? Chanyeol was annoying. Full stop. “Stop declaring to everyone that I’m your fiance. And you didn’t have to know who Mr. Kim is.” Though he was completely right.

 

“But I _am_ your fiance. Sit down. Have you eaten yet?” Chanyeol took the menu that was left on their table, not bothering to see if Baekhyun did what he told him to do. “Besides, you heard what he said. Turn out, you’re _Mr. Popular_.”

 

Baekhyun truly wanted to rip off the teasing smirk off Chanyeol’s face. “Shut up. I’m not popular. We’re having lunch here?”

 

Humming like he was thinking hard, Chanyeol tore his attention away from the menu. "You want to go somewhere else? There's only half an hour left before our lunchtime is over though."

 

The butterflies in Baekhyun's stomach were back as soon as he realized how comfortable they talked right now. So comfortable he started thinking that they could actually do this like a real couple. "Let's just go to some drive-thru and eat in the car."

 

"Fast food? Again?" Chanyeol arched his brows, not liking the idea, but he put down the menu anyway.

 

"Let's go to McDonald’s. I'm craving their fish and chips." Baekhyun started to pack his things while Chanyeol got up, standing beside him, waiting for him.

 

"You know, usually people go to a chicken restaurant for the chicken, but you--"

 

"Shut it."

 

Chanyeol chuckled, then he took Baekhyun's hand as soon as he finished putting his things inside his bag. Without saying anything, he pulled Baekhyun out of the coffee shop.

 

See? Too comfortable.

  
  
  
  


 

 

 

The amount of people who knew about their deal wasn't more than 2 people. They were no other than their own secretary, Kim Junmyeon and Bae Joohyun.

 

Chanyeol didn't know about Baekhyun and Junmyeon, but Joohyun was one of the key point of his plan to throw his step father away. After all, Joohyun was the one who he asked to search for South Korean CEO slash bachelor. So she already knew about his plan from the start. She was also the one who helped him to make their marriage slash business contract.

 

Basically, she was his right hand, and it was only natural that after a stressful meeting with the board of the company, when he was feeling a little more pent-up more than anytime, he blurted out the story of ten years ago when he was being an ultimate jerk to his now fiance. Joohyun only nodded once in a while, and frowned and scowled at him more often than not.

 

His secretary only confirmed what he already knew. He was an asshole. And she worded it with absolute disdain dripping in her every word.

 

"Way to rub salt into my wound, Joohyun." Chanyeol ran his fingers through his hair, feeling even more stuffy than before he told the story to his secretary. Somehow, his workspace became so small.

 

"Well, I don't know what to say, Mr. Park." Joohyun cleaned all the scattered papers on Chanyeol's desk, looking tired and ready to go home since the hour was getting late. "With all due respect, Mr. Park, I'm surprised after all you've done to him he's still willing to go through this plan for you."

 

Damn, that stung. But Chanyeol couldn't help but wondered too. It was like a goddamn miracle how Baekhyun agreed to be married to him, and the way he acted around Chanyeol lately... it looked like he was willing to cooperate as civil as possible. Even normal. Which was weird, but definitely more than welcomed.

 

"Not only for me. He did this also for his company," Chanyeol corrected her. Because as much as he wanted to pretend that Baekhyun was doing this for him, he knew the reality was Baekhyun did this for the sake of his company. "The condition I gave him is too good. Only a fool would turn it down."

 

The petite female nodded, her expression blank. "I guess so, but..." Her piercing cold gaze looked straight into Chanyeol's eyes. "Shouldn't you tell him all the things you just told me, Mr. Park? About your feelings back then, and why you did what you did."

 

Chanyeol tapped his fingers onto his wooden desk, feeling conflicted more than ever. "You think?"

 

"Absolutely, Mr. Park. With that, maybe your relationship could be better, and maybe... become more." Joohyun took a step backward and bowed to him. "Excuse myself, Mr. Park. I'm heading home first."

 

Chanyeol nodded and buried his head in his palms, not watching his secretary getting out of his office and closing the door. He was too busy with his thoughts.

 

It wasn't that Chanyeol didn't want to be honest with Baekhyun about his feeling. The thing was, the relationship he had with Baekhyun right now was... safe. It was clear to him that Baekhyun put his absolute best to tolerate Chanyeol, accept him even, although there was a blatant elephant in the room. Multiple elephants, in fact. What would happen if Chanyeol opened the old wound? Joohyun said their relationship could take a better path, but what if it had an opposite effect? Then the perfect bubble they had right now would be busted?

 

Chanyeol didn't want that. Losing Baekhyun right now would be the scariest thing could happen to him.

 

The loud chime of his phone echoed in his office, and Chanyeol almost cursed loudly, but immediately smiled who the sender of the message was.

 

Byun Baekhyun [20.05]

**_I’m around your office. You still there?_ **

 

Chanyeol didn’t care if Baekhyun would mock him later about how disgustingly fast he replied to his text.

 

Me [20.05]

**_Still here. U wanna come?_ **

 

Byun Baekhyun [20.08]

**_I could if u want_ **

 

Me [20.08]

**_Awh dont be like that. I know u want to see me_ **

**_U miss me babe?_ **

 

Byun Baekhyun [20.10]

**_…..I refused to reply to that_ **

 

Me [20.10]

**_jk_ **

**_just come here_ **

**_bring food?_ **

 

Byun Baekhyun [20.11]

**_will bring thai_ **

**_be there in 15_ **

 

Me [20.11]

**_Be careful on ur way here_ **

 

After his conversation with Joohyun, honestly Chanyeol dreaded to meet his fiance. He supposed he should be concerned over the fact that he needed to talk to Baekhyun, but all he wanted right now was to see his face, and maybe if he was lucky, Baekhyun would let him hold his hand later when he accompanied him to his car. He would worry about _the talk_ later.

 

Shoulders slumped, Chanyeol let himself to repax against his leather chair, at the same time trying to dismiss the thought about his past. But to no avail, he failed miserably. By the way he couldn't stop thinking about it, he knew that he would have to confess to Baekhyun tonight or else he wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

 

He sighed. The reason he talked to his secretary about it was so he could let out the steam in him but it just made it worse.

 

Chanyeol closed his eyes for a long moment, listening to the sound of honking cars and people yelling outside of his office building, willing himself to breathe. It became easier by the minutes and he felt himself calm down just a little. At least he wasn’t going to face Baekhyun with his heartbeat thundering out of control.

 

At some point, Chanyeol might lose track of time and the next thing he knew was that the door to his office was opened. Baekhyun’s white, thick coat was the first thing Chanyeol noticed before his fiance’s head popped out from behind the door, his eyes scanning the room until they found Chanyeol. Then his confused look turned into relief. The guy was probably relieved he had found the right office, but Chanyeol would like to pretend Baekhyun was so relieved to see him after a long ass day. Just like how Chanyeol felt right now.

 

How he could breathe easier yet harder at the same time with the sight of Baekhyun, he would never know.

 

“Uh, hey,” Baekhyun greeted awkwardly, making Chanyeol grin instantly.

 

“Why are just standing there? Come in.” Chanyeol sat straight. “You bring the food?”

 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he entered the room and closed the door after. “Of course I do. Why would I come here if I don’t?”

 

“Wow, so you couldn’t eat dinner without me now? I’m touched, sugar.”

 

“Shut up. Don’t call me that.” Baekhyun threw him a glare, but he ended up looking cute instead. He exhaled loudly when he put the plastic bag containing food on Chanyeol’s table, not bothering to sweep all Chanyeol’s thing away. “I was just around this area, might as well…”

 

Chanyeol’s gaze softened. Recently, he wasn’t able to keep this teasing banter between them for long since his heart would often melt soon enough. Before he knew it, he just stopped talking and just stared at him.

 

Without asking for Chanyeol’s permission, Baekhyun took a seat across of him and started to rummage through the plastic. "So what do you want? I have pad Thai and and uh... fried rice, khao pad, I think? I also have the tom yum soup."

 

"Anything's fine," Chanyeol said, starting to help his fiance to arrange the food. "You bought the beverages, too?"

 

"Yup, Thai tea and ice tea."

 

"I'll take the Thai tea."

 

"Hey." Baekhyun's hand froze mid-air when he handed Chanyeol the fried rice, his expression looked sulky. "The Thai tea is mine, obviously."

 

"Give me half of it."

 

"No."

 

"Oh, come on. You can't possibly just give me ice tea."

 

"In fact, I can. And why should I give you anyway?"

 

Chanyeol shrugged as he took the fried rice dish. "Fiance's privilege."

 

"There's no fiance's privilege." Baekhyun sneered but instead looking like he was fuming, he looked cute when he was stirring his pad Thai. "If there was one, what is mine?"

 

Chanyeol decided to start eating too. In between his chews, he talked again. "I allowed you to come here even after the office hour. I never done that to anyone before."

 

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, chewing religiously. The sight was one hell of a kind. Chanyeol had numerous chances to witness Baekhyun eating now after they became fiance, but he couldn't say that he was bored with cute sight. "Me visiting you right now isn't counted because I'm your... shit."

 

Chanyeol forced to swallow the rice in his mouth before he laughed. His eyes started to water, as he could see Baekhyun's flushed face in between his tears. "See? Fiance's privilege."

 

"Fuck you," Baekhyun grumbled, looking embarrassed that he just tasted his own medicine. But in the end, he handed his cup of Thai ice tea to Chanyeol.

 

"Nah, you could have it, babe. I was just kidding," Chanyeol said nonchalantly. The term of endearment slipped without him able to stop it.

 

Now Chanyeol didn't know if the red blush on Baekhyun's cheeks was still because of the earlier tease or because he just called him embarrassing nickname. Either way, Baekhyun decided not to mention the latter. He got back to his pad Thai after he cleared throat. "You seriously never invited anyone here after work?"

 

The question was simple. But Chanyeol felt like there was underlying question behind that. "No, never. In fact, I never let anyone come here if it's not about work whether it was office hour or not."

 

"So your office is strictly for work?"

 

"Yes."

 

Baekhyun only hummed, seemingly thinking. Much later, after they had finished their food and drink, Baekhyun finally looked at him. Even without him uttering it, Chanyeol already had a hunch what kind of question his fiance was gonna ask.

 

"Something's bothering you?"

 

Baekhyun stiffened. He was so easy to read or maybe Chanyeol just put too much attention on him. "Nothing," he answered, fidgeting on his seat. "Just wondering about something unimportant."

 

That only made Chanyeol more curious. "Shoot. You can ask me anything."

 

Baekhyun looked hesitating for a while, but like he was fishing for the right words to say without making Chanyeol angry. "Yeah, I've been wondering." Baekhyun stopped to rub his nape. "So you ended up working for your step dad."

 

Chanyeol expected it, really he did. After all, this was one of the thing that they needed to talk about. So it wasn't out of nowhere that Baekhyun had been wondering about this and brought it up. But it didn't mean he wouldn't be taken aback by the statement all the same. His brain was short circuiting, making him lose ability to speak.

 

Fortunately, Baekhyun handled the silence, although his next words came out shaky, obviously nervous. "Since I know that you... hate him so much."

 

Well there he went. Of course baekhyun still remembered the incident that happened ten years ago at his father's study room. That's the beginning of their doom after all. And Chanyeol had been cursing that moment ever since. If not for that cursed coincidence that Baekhyun was there while he had a fight with his step dad, their relationship was probably gonna be better than this.

 

Chanyeol sighed before he raked his fingers through his hair. After a while, he finally found his voice. "Let's go somewhere else. We can't talk about that here."

 

Might as well laid himself bare tonight, just like Joohyun told him to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun couldn't believe that he really did that. _Stupid idiot_. Why did he have to be so nosy all the time? Shouldn't he learn from the past about how his and Chanyeol's relationship work? He should've known that Chanyeol hated his private life--especially his family matter--being pried on.

 

This was the very reason why their _new_ relationship as fake fiance had worked, because they had avoided any mentions about each other's private life, never crossing the line. Chanyeol never asked about his family whereabout, neither did Baekhyun. Baekhyun didn't know if Chanyeol had friends out there, and neither did Chanyeol.

 

They knew so much about each other but none of them were the things that mattered.

 

And Baekhyun had destroyed it, their comfortable fake relationship. He should've known his place, but Baekhyun was starting to get greedy. He thought maybe, just maybe, he could understand him better. He _wanted_ to know Chanyeol better.

 

Now, he had crossed the line, and Chanyeol visibly looked like he was a second away from exploding, probably from feeling ashamed, angry, or... scared, Baekhyun didn't know. And he hated to be the one who did wrong.

 

"We don't have to talk about it," Baekhyun said quietly as the car Chanyeol drove passed probably the twentieth traffic light since they left his office. And at that long duration, not a word uttered between them. The silence between the was so suffocating especially after weeks of attempted normal relationship between them. It felt like they were back to square one once again, if not worse. "Chanyeol?"

 

Chanyeol's stoic expression which he had been sporting for the whole ride cracked for a second. He glanced at Baekhyun briefly and put his concentration back on the road, or maybe on the things storming inside his head. "No, it's just-- We're almost there." He exhaled a pent-up breath. "We'll talk once we arrive."

 

It was weird. Chanyeol looked nervous, when he should've not... right? Baekhyun expected he would be pissed. As pissed off as back then ten years ago when Baekhyun not-so-accidentally witness his fight with his step father.

 

Before he knew it, they had left the main road and entered small alley, went straight toward the slope. Baekhyun knew this route. This was the way to the Naksan Park, a park located on top of a hill. Baekhyun’s heart stuttered. If Chanyeol was mad and wanted to scream at him, he wouldn’t bring Baekhyun to a romantic place, right?

 

When the dark sky with thousands of shining light came to view, Baekhyun gaped without him realizing. It was like he was relishing the moment he visited here the first time. The view still took his breath away.

 

Chanyeol parked the car shortly before he stopped the engine all together. And in an instant, they were engulfed by silence. When Baekhyun peeked to the man beside him, Chanyeol was looking at his hands on his lap, all the while chewing his lips so hard until Baekhyun was scared it would bleed.

 

"Chanyeol?"

 

Chanyeol looked up, blinking as if he just realized that he was only sitting there in silent. "Yeah, uhm, let's go out."

 

This wasn't Park Chanyeol he knew. Chanyeol was always full of confidence, never unsure of anything he did. So, why? Why did he look so rattled?

 

And why everything in him wanted to comfort him? Baekhyun wanted to touch him, hug him, tell him that everything was okay. He had to hug himself to avoid his arms from reaching out to Chanyeol.

 

"What is it, Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asked as soon as they sat at one of the bench, with the entire night view of Seoul right in front of them. Baekhyun couldn't honestly enjoy it. His gut was twisting and it was hard to control his beating heart.

 

This time, Chanyeol finally faced him. Since the time Baekhyun uttered the bold statement at his office, this was the first time Chanyeol finally looked at him. And at that moment, Chanyeol was no longer looked worried, or confused, or puzzled. He looked... resolved. "I feel like I need to tell you this from the start."

 

Baekhyun swallowed. "About what?"

 

"About everything." Chanyeol's eyes turned crestfallen. "As my fiance, you deserve--no, I _want_ you to know."

 

Baekhyun leaned against the bench. Okay, he was clueless and didn't know what the hell Chanyeol was going to talk about, but he kinda got it. So he just closed his eyes, as he felt a calloused, cold hand crept into his, lacing their fingers together. Suddenly, Baekhyun felt the urge to cry, but he held it in, and listened to Chanyeol's voice.

 

"My father--my real, biological father--died when I was eight. My mom was crushed, he was the love of her life. But Mom needed to go on, because he left a huge responsibility on her, our company. She was only one of the company board with little share. So you could imagine how mess our company at that time. Who would be the CEO? The madam? No, my mom only held a quarter of the share. And that's where Minhyuk--my step dad stepped up."

 

Opening his eyes, Baekhyun's brows snapped together. "Don't tell me..."

 

"Minhyuk was one of the shareholder just like my mom, although much fewer. But he was friend with another board who had major influence in the company since they had bigger share. Minhyuk made sure to be in their side, so other boards would vote for him as the new CEO. And those stupid boards ate his shit. They believed it when Minhyuk said that my mom was too emotional to handle the company, and he could do it better."

 

"Just like that?"

 

Chanyeol plastered a fake smile on his face. "Just like that," he repeated. "He became the CEO, _and_ became my step dad. Wonderful, wasn't it? Honestly, at that time, I didn't understand about company matter. Hell, I didn't even understand when my mom said that he was going to be my new father. All I know was that I hate him, but not because he abused the company's power or my mom's fragile heart, but because..."

 

Chanyeol visibly swallowed, like the lump in his throat actually prevent him to talk, and Baekhyun could only squeeze his hand.

 

"He was kind for the first year they were together. But as I became older, I started to realize that he was... bad news. The things he did just rubbed me in the wrong way, and I was only ten at that time. So can you imagine how shitty he was, if a ten years old kid could pick up on that?

 

"Then I started to not listening to what he said, not caring about his opinion, trying to pull Mom's attention to me when he was around, and so on. And he realized that. That I was starting to turn my back on him and it irked him so much."

 

Baekhyun felt his chest tightening and he really, really didn't like where this was going. "Chanyeol," Baekhyun said, his voice was a little thick. "Did he... was he..."

 

"It's exactly what you imagined." Chanyeol no longer could stare right into his eyes. "He became an abusive dad. He hit me, slapped me, pulled my hair, smack me. You named it, he did it all. I was ten, so I couldn't really fight him. I couldn't tell anyone either, including Mom. Since he said if I told anyone, he would make my mother suffer instead. And I can't... do that. My mom has gone through enough. So I just endured it, until I was fifteen. I grew bigger than him slowly, and I could take him. Though his abuse didn't stop all together, but at least, I could fight him once in a while. When I reached my eighteen birthday, that was when he knew that he couldn't mess with me anymore, because I literally could destroy him if I wanted that time."

 

A sob escaped Baekhyun's lips, pulling Chanyeol's attention to him. Chanyeol looked absolutely confused for a few seconds, like he couldn't for the life of him comprehend why in the hell Baekhyun would cry for him. Him--the boy who tortured him ten years ago. Him--the man who came back and crept into his life forcefully. Him. Him. Him. Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.

 

"Baekhyun, you..." he broke off, smiling at him but his eyes looked vulnerable. "Why are you crying?" He laughed dryly before he cupped Baekhyun's face with his hands, sweeping the tears that fell to his cheeks with his thumbs. "Come one, don't cry."

 

"Because," Baekhyun choked out. He couldn't seem to stop his tears. "Because the ten years old you... the eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old you was crying... alone." He shut his eyes. "No child--no one should experience that."

 

"You're right. No one deserves that. But I'm okay now, so..." He rubbed his thumbs against Baekhyun's cold cheeks. "When you caught me fighting with Minhyuk back then, that was... one of my lowest moment and you witnessed it. Out of all people, it had to be you. It wasn't in my intention to hate you, but I was _so_ embarrassed... I was just..."

 

Baekhyun shook his head. "It's okay."

 

"It's not okay." His voice rose an octave. Then as if he realized that he surprised Baekhyun, he sighed. His voice was barely a whisper when he started talking again. "It's not okay. At all. I pushed you away, I bullied you, and for what? For no reason at all. I just wanted to feel superior, to know how it felt to have a hold on someone's life. I was so, so low--"

 

"Hey, there. Don't beat yourself too much like that." Baekhyun raised his hands to hold Chanyeol's ones that still placed in his cheeks. "I understand. That was your defense mechanism. You were just a kid."

 

"I don't want your forgiveness if it's just because I was abused by my step father back then. You don't have to pretend that everything happened because I was broken or something. The thing is, I was _aware_ of what I was doing, but I _still_ did it anyway. I was an--"

 

"Asshole." Baekhyun smiled, and he put their foreheads together, until he was sure that Chanyeol must've felt his breath fanning his face. "And you were a bully, a jerk, a douchebag, a complete horseshit. And I hated you. Believe me, I hated everything about you, including your stupidly attractive face. But I understand. I understand, Chanyeol. That's all I'm saying." When Baekhyun pulled away, he tried his best to put a teasing smile. "Besides, how am I gonna forgive you when you haven't asked for my forgiveness at all?"

 

Chanyeol's own smile got wider. His concern was still there, but it died down slowly. And with that, also the tension between them. "I'm sure that you don't want a fiance who's all talk and no action."

 

"Oh? So you're going to prove it with your action, huh?"

 

"I'm going to earn your forgiveness and trust for no matter how long."

 

The statement made Baekhyun want to backpedal because suddenly this felt too deep, too intense. But he hold Chanyeol's gaze, and in the ended he nodded. "Okay," he said, so shaky and tight.

 

 

 

 


	7. The Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Order whatever you like. I'll pay,”

Baekhyun had a weird prejudice about dates.

 

Seriously, in all 28 years of his life, he never had a remotely decent date. Not even with Kyungsoo back then, and he  _ liked _ the boy.

 

Somehow, his dates were either so boring, awkward, or disastrous. So, Baekhyun shouldn’t have put his expectation too high on this one. He knew he shouldn’t. But still. This was Chanyeol. The guy he used to have a tiny bit of crush--and hated--in high school. Also, he was his fiance. So maybe, just maybe, this could go… well?

 

In all honesty, Baekhyun was excited. Looking forward to it, even. And none of this was Baekhyun’s fault, since Chanyeol was the one who got his hope up. The man kept saying that he had prepared the whole date for him and promised that it would be the best. Did Baekhyun believe him? Maybe he did. Too much, in fact.

 

It wasn't that this was the first date they had. After all, they had lunch almost every day, and sometimes dinner too. It was just that this was the first  _ proper _ one, where Chanyeol actually said  _ let's go on a date, let's go somewhere _ to him. So Baekhyun would like to believe that this counted as their first date.

 

Me [12.03]

**_What kind of clothes should I wear for today?_ **

 

Park Chanyeol [12.03]

**_Oho? You excited shortie?_ **

 

Me [12.05]

**_roll eyes_ **

**_just dont want to be underdressed or overdressed_ **

 

Park Chanyeol [12.05]

**_wear something hot_ **

 

Me [12.06]

**_chanyeol_ **

**_seriously_ **

 

Park Chanyeol [12.06]

**_lmao okay_ **

**_just wear something right in the middle?_ **

**_not so casual_ **

**_not so formal_ **

**_we’re not going outbound_ **

**_or fine dining_ **

**_so_ **

**_just casual date_ **

**_but not so casual_ **

 

Me [12.08]

**_alright alright jeez_ **

 

Park Chanyeol [12.08]

**_im looking forward to it babe_ **

 

Me [12.10]

**_stop calling me that_ **

 

Park Chanyeol [12.10]

**_see u in an hour shortie :*_ **

 

They had been so busy after their last encounter, the night when Chanyeol told him almost everything about his past. So this would be the first time they see each other after that whole ordeal, and honestly, Baekhyun longed and dreaded it at the same time. Because somehow, he missed hanging out with the guy, yet he didn't know how to act around him anymore since now they had gotten much more personal with each other.

 

This was supposed to be a marriage based on contract only but right now there was some personal feelings involved, and Baekhyun didn't know what to make from that.

 

Shaking his head, Baekhyun decided to not think too much about the matter for now. The future him would deal with that problem, and the him now would only deal with what kind of outfit he needed to wear on their first date.

 

He sighed as he looked into his closet. Okay, not that Baekhyun really cared about Chanyeol's opinion about his outfit, but right now he couldn’t help but cursed his disinterest to buy decent clothes. All he had in his closet was button-up shirt for work. Blame his workaholic self.

 

Looking inside his closet, he realized that he never went out to enjoy himself. All he did was work, work, and work, all of it so he could prove to everyone that he could stand on his own. Sure, he had gone out once in a while with Kyungsoo, Junmyeon, or some dates, but it was either for occasional midnight drink or quick lunch meet-up. None of those occasion was something planned in the weekend like this.

 

And to think that his high school enemy turned out to be the one who pulled him out of his shell was pretty staggering. If the him one month ago was told about this, there was no way he would believe it.

 

Baekhyun opted out to wear a simple ivory sweater. He pondered to wear a coat over his sweater but the weather had became warmer recently. He hoped that the temperature wouldn't drop all of a sudden later.

 

He refused to look at himself on the mirror for more than five seconds. He didn't want to act like he really cared about his appearance at all. But he couldn't help but wondered if he had wore the right clothes for the date. After all, he never went out on a real one before.

 

Baekhyun wasn't nervous, no. Strangely, he felt... light, and he didn't know if it was a good sign or not.

 

By the time his doorbell rang, Baekhyun was as ready as ever.  He almost ran toward the door but forced himself to walk slowly just so Chanyeol wouldn't know how excited he was to finally do something other than working in the weekend.

 

No matter how excited--or in a hurry--he was, Baekhyun never forget to check his peephole, making sure that the person outside of his apartment was really someone he actually waited. Better be careful than sorry. He peeked into his peephole and his breath caught.

 

Even from the peephole, which supposedly made him wider and weirder, Chanyeol still looked breathtakingly handsome. He froze for a few seconds and only broke out of his trance when the second ring of the doorbell registered in his ears. Baekhyun felt his cheeks flush as he scrambled to open his door. Did he just get entranced by Chanyeol’s attractiveness? If the tall guy knew, he wouldn’t let this slide.

 

But he was thankful that he got the upperhand, because now he could give out neutral expression as he looked at Chanyeol properly, meanwhile Chanyeol… The way he looked at Baekhyun might as well described as someone who was smitten. God, Baekhyun didn’t want to get his hope up but Chanyeol looked very much attracted to him.

 

Now, Baekhyun would be lying if he said that he didn’t notice how Chanyeol’s lingering gaze at him here and there. But he knew better. The gaze could mean anything and he didn’t want to get deep into it. All he knew was that he didn’t  _ hate _ it. In fact, he  _ wanted _ Chanyeol to look at him more.

 

If Baekhyun let this went on, he would absolutely done for and he would only repeat history.

 

“I haven’t seen you with your hair down for so long,” Chanyeol said with a blatant fondness in his eyes that it made Baekhyun’s stomach fluttered. “It’s nice to see you in casual clothes once in a while.”

 

Well, Baekhyun could say the same thing. Because since they met again recently, he only saw Chanyeol in formal attires and slick pushed back hair. His casual boyish look he pulled off today--a denim jacket on top of navy sweatshirt--took Baekhyun back to their high school day. Chanyeol was so handsome. Stupidly handsome. And Baekhyun was  _ devastated _ .

 

“I don’t have to bring anything, right?” Baekhyun asked as soon as he got a grip of himself.

 

Chanyeol grinned. “Nope, just bring your pretty self and we’re good to go.”

 

Baekhyun might or might not blush at that statement. He was well aware that he had failed his glare when Chanyeol’s grin turned even wider. The jerk  _ knew  _ that his attempt at flirting had worked. “You’re so shameless.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Let’s go, then. I’m ready.”

 

There was no one in Baekhyun’s apartment corridor, so he knew for a fact that when Chanyeol slipped his hand into Baekhyun’s to link their fingers together that the act wasn’t for a show. Chanyeol’s wicked grin had wiped off his face, replaced by a fond smile that the taller guy often directed at him recently. “Yeah,” Chanyeol said, squeezing his hand. “Let’s go.”

  
  
  
  
  


“So this is your idea of not so casual yet not so formal date.”

 

Baekhyun’s tone wasn’t teasing or confused. It sounded like a normal statement with no underlying meaning behind it, but Chanyeol would like to pretend that he was an expert of Baekhyun and based on that simple sentence, it seemed like he had succeeded on surprising his fiance. In short, Baekhyun hadn’t expected it at all.

 

“You bring me to American football match,” Baekhyun deadpanned. With his unruly hair plus thick sweater, his cuteness multiplied into an inhumanly level.

 

Chanyeol was  _ dying _ to kiss him. But he had to be content with holding hand for now. “My favorite team is playing. Of course I need to watch the match.”

 

Baekhyun scrunched his face as strong winds blew across the stadium parking lot. “Damn, I should’ve wear my coat if I knew we’re gonna stay outdoor.”

 

Chanyeol stopped dead on his track. He took a brief look at his fiance’s clothes before he closed his eyes. “I’m a fucking idiot,” he hissed, as he began to shed his own denim jacket. “I’m sorry I should’ve told you.”

 

“Please don’t say you’re going to give me your jacket.”

 

“Yes, I’m going to.”

 

“I don’t want it. I’m not a girl, I don’t need you to lend me your jacket.”

 

“Huh?” Chanyeol stopped mid-movement. “Why would it have anything to do with being a girl? If you’re cold, then you’re cold. I’m the one at fault here. Stop being stubborn, Baekhyun.”

 

“But you--”

 

“I’m always warm, anyway.” He slung his jacket over Baekhyun’s back. His fingers brushed Baekhyun’s red cheeks, and yup, there was no way his fiance would be able to bear the cold throughout the game if his cheeks already this cold fifteen meters away from the car. He was already freezing. “Are you always weak to cold?”

 

“I’m not.” His flushed cheeks turned even redder. “It’s just… I thought it would be a little warmer today.”

 

Chanyeol moved his hand to play with a curl of Baekhyun’s hair, messy by the wind. “No need to get so defensive. Come on, let’s get some food and warm drink.”

 

His fiance was a stubborn man, but he wasn’t going to risk dying because of cold just for his stupid pride. “Fine,” he finally said, still pouting but putting on Chanyeol’s jacket nonetheless.

 

Chanyeol thought it was impossible, but Baekhyun became even cuter. “Is it okay?” He laced their fingers again. “Do we have to buy a scarf, too?”

 

“I’m not that weak,” Baekhyun jabbed, but more because he was embarrassed.

 

Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright. Let’s go.”

 

Despite being cold, it was obvious that Baekhyun was excited. He was trying to hide it, but his eyes gave him away. Not that Chanyeol was complaining, because if anything, he was over the moon. The idea of Baekhyun would hate the date had crossed his mind a thousand times, but thank God, his fiance seemed to be jumping on his feet.

 

“What do you want?” Chanyeol asked as they arrived at one of the food trucks. He let go of his linking hand with Baekhyun and put them around the shorter guy’s waist. “I often buy snacks in this stall. He’s exceptionally good, not like the others.”

 

“You know the owner?”

 

“I’m a regular.”

 

Baekhyun hummed. He looked up at the menu for a few moments before he decided. “I’ll get corn dog and hot chocolate, I guess. Are they good?”

 

The sight of Baekhyun in his arm, wearing his jacket, pouting as he concentrated on deciding the menu, weirdly making his chest warm. Man, Chanyeol was a complete  _ goner  _ for this man right here.

 

He couldn’t resist anymore, so he leaned down to kiss the side of Baekhyun’s head. Baekhyun visibly tensed, but he didn’t push Chanyeol away. He leaned into him instead. And didn’t that just make Chanyeol felt like he was on top of the world. He was holding his entire life, his whole heart.

 

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun looked up to him.

 

“Yeah, they’re good. But their burger is the best though.”

 

Baekhyun scrunched his nose. “You know I don’t like burgers.”

 

“But this one is  _ really _ good.”

 

“Nope. Corn dog.”

 

Chanyeol chuckled and shook his head. “Alright, shortie.”

 

Chanyeol brought them forward when the queue moved. The man who tended the stall, Kim Jisung, was grinning at both of them.

 

“Well, well, if it isn’t Park Chanyeol,” Jisung teased. His eyes were curious yet gleaming, like he was happy but couldn’t wait to go around the bush about what the hell happened here. After all, Chanyeol never ever brought someone to watch the game with him. Jisung knew well that Chanyeol was some lonesoul bastard.

 

Still his arm around Baekhyun, Chanyeol tightened his hold as he gave him a smile so wide it almost hurt his jaws. “Hey, Jisung. The usual for me, and one corn dog and one hot chocolate for him.”

 

“Coming right up.” Jisung changed into work mode, going to the back of his truck to prepare their meal. It only took a few minutes before he popped back out and handed out their order. “Here you go. Burger, corn dog, hot chocolate, and Americano.”

 

“Thank you,” Baekhyun said, in a surprisingly shy and timid voice. Chanyeol couldn’t blame him since Jisung was looking at both of them with such obvious curious eyes.

 

Even without him voicing out the question, Chanyeol knew that he needed--no, wanted-- to introduce Baekhyun to him. Chanyeol didn’t have many friends and acquaintances, so he couldn’t show his fiance around as much as he wanted to. But now the opportunity had arrived.

 

“So…” Jisung trailed off. “Who do we have here? Don’t think I didn’t see you getting all mushy in the queue, Chanyeol.”

 

Chanyeol was unable to stop his smile. This would be the first time he introduced Baekhyun to someone related to him. He felt incredibly giddy and smug as fuck. Sue him. He didn’t care. “He’s my fiance.”

 

Seeing Jisung’s change of expression was such an exhilarating experience. “He’s what?” Jisung’s gaped. It was clear that he didn’t expect the word ‘fiance’. Maybe ‘date’ or ‘boyfriend’, but ‘fiance’? “Dude, you caught a cutie.”

 

Baekhyun snickered despite the rosy blush on his cheeks. “Yeah, and I got the idiot.”

 

The booming laugh of Jisung made people turned their heads toward them. “Damn, he’s a well fit for you, I see.”

 

_ I know right _ , Chanyeol thought to himself. That was what he had thought recently too, that maybe the reason why Chanyeol always wanted to be with him so much was because they were just… he didn’t want to sound cheesy, but they were like a complete puzzle when they were together. It was so terrifying yet made sense in the same time. Baekhyun understood him like no one else, and the fact that Baekhyun accepted him after Chanyeol had told him the secret of his family only made Chanyeol fall for him even more.

 

Chanyeol wanted to kiss Baekhyun so  _ badly _ .

 

“I’m Baekhyun, by the way. Pleasure.” Baekhyun extended his hand, and Jisung reached out to meet him.

 

“Jisung, and really, the pleasure is mine.” For a few seconds, his face was blank, like he was having a difficult processing this. “Wow, so I guess I’ll see you more often from now on, huh?”

 

Baekhyun smiled. “You sure will.”

 

“Alright.” Chanyeol steered him away from the food trucks. They had held the line long enough and the game would start any minutes now. “Thanks, Jisung.”

 

“I’m waiting for the wedding invitation, okay?”

 

Chanyeol couldn’t hold his laugh any longer as he clung to his fiance.

  
  
  
  
  


They were late to the game. By the time they entered the stadium and looking for their seat, the game already started for a good three minutes, and Chanyeol cursed himself. He quickly pulled Baekhyun down the stairs, rushing a lil bit so they could sit down fast, then Chanyeol could scream for his favorite team freely.

 

“Excuse me, excuse me.” Chanyeol bowed and smiled while they waddled through the full seats, his hands were both busy carrying their foods and holding Baekhyun’s hand. When they finally reached their seats, Chanyeol was practically panting. “Fuck,” he huffed out.

 

Baekhyun was equally breathless. “What the hell, why is the stadium so full?” he asked, then proceed to take off Chanyeol’s denim jacket. “Is this like a final match or something?”

 

“Quarter final. Aren’t you gonna get cold?”

 

“Nah, I’m fine. Here’s your Americano.” Baekhyun handed Chanyeol’s drink, and Chanyeol gave him his corn dog.

 

“You sure corn dog would be enough?”

 

“I thought we’re gonna have dinner after this?”

 

Chanyeol blinked. “Yeah, of course.” What the hell was wrong with him? He kept on sprawling out of control the whole date. Did he really  _ that _ tense? He really needed to wind down from all the excitement. “Ugh, we missed the opening kickoff.”

 

“Seriously, I really forgot how this match really works.” Baekhyun’s eyes went left and right nonstop. “It’s been ten years.”

 

“You never watch the game again since you were in high school?”

 

Baekhyun bit his lip and abruptly took his cup of hot chocolate, his fingers fiddled with the paper cup. “Well,” he cleared his throat. “Back then I only watched American football because of you.”

 

Chanyeol had absolutely nothing to say back. “What?”

 

“I only cared about American football back then because you played in it, so…”

 

_ So as soon as Baekhyun moved away and couldn’t watch Chanyeol anymore, he stopped… he didn’t feel the need to care about it anymore. _

 

Chanyeol gulped, and his brain short-circuited, his mind was all over the place, and none of them were on the game. Did Baekhyun really just confess that he  _ only  _ care about it just because it was related to Chanyeol? Now how the hell did Chanyeol suppose to concentrate on the game again?

 

Chanyeol found himself just staring emptily at the field. His heart was pounding while the burger and Americano in his hands are forgotten. So did Baekhyun cared about him even back then? So it wasn’t one-sided, right? This wasn’t just Chanyeol being ridiculously hopeful, no?

 

Baekhyun was out here killing him in the public, and he had the audacity to enjoy the game while Chanyeol was dying. Whose idea was it to have the first date out again? Why didn’t they just have a nice date in the house, having lunch and watching movies? So then Chanyeol could just kiss him anytime.

 

“Why are you being quiet all of a sudden?” Baekhyun side eyed him, but a hint of amusement was definitely there.

 

Chanyeol shook his head. “You’re gonna be the death of me.”

 

It was apparent that Baekhyun was aware that he had just broke something in Chanyeol, and he was so smug about it. “So what’s your favorite team again?” Baekhyun asked with his mouth full of corn dog. His eyes were still trained on the field, but Chanyeol could tell that his head wasn’t on the game either. They were too busy in their own world to care.

 

“Golden Eagles, obviously.” Chanyeol took the first bite on his burger. He frowned at it, his burger had turned cold because he was too busy flirting with his fiance.

 

“Is that always your favorite?” Now Baekhyun had turned to face him, completely ignoring the game.

 

“I mean, they’re the best.” Chanyeol shrugged.

 

Baekhyun didn’t comment on that, since he probably didn’t have any opinion to back him up. Chanyeol’s eyes landed on the field once again. The Golden Eagles was the defense this time, while Vikings was the offense. That made Chanyeol completely lose his interest on the game.

 

“You know,” Baekhyun started, his eyes trained on Chanyeol. “Back then, I was sure that you would take over your family company, but there was a sliver thought that maybe--just maybe, you’re going to be an athlete, since you were amazing in it.”

 

Chanyeol found himself dumbfounded by this revelation. Really, how many times Baekhyun plan to surprise him with random revelation today? Because if this honest talk kept going he needed to prepare his heart. “Well, I always knew that I’ll take care of my family business,” Chanyeol answered until a long silence. “Since there’s no way I’m going to let the old man has the full claim on it. But it doesn’t mean that I never thought to just say  _ fuck it _ and go after what I really enjoy.”

 

There was a flash of sadness in Baekhyun’s face, just like the other night when Chanyeol told him about his past. Not that Chanyeol hated that look, but he prefered to not have it directed at him.

 

Determined to stop the pity party, Chanyeol tried to change the subject of their talk. “You never told me about how you have your own company, you know.”

 

Baekhyun hummed, his eyes avoiding him, looking toward the game where the player holding the ball was just tackled to the ground. “Some other time,” he said.

  
  
  
  
  


“Hey, I just realized this.” Baekhyun let Chanyeol open the door into the pub. Immediately his sensory was filled with bright colorful lights and loud sound of EDM music. He winced at the loudness but the heavy bass. It had been years since the last time he visited a pub. “I’ve been tagging along with you recently. When will I get the chance to decide what we gonna do?”

 

“Oh? Does this mean I’m getting a second date?” Chanyeol’s smug face was lit by the colorful lights, as he tugged Baekhyun’s arm to follow him to the bar.

 

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun let himself being dragged  _ again, _ for the umpteenth times today. First the game, then the late lunch, and now the pub. Not that he was complaining, because he needed this. But it just sort of… weird, he guessed, to have someone completely taken over what he was gonna do next.

 

As soon as they took a seat side by side on the bar, Chanyeol immediately leaned into him. The man hadn't even had a single drop of drink but he already acted like he was drunk. “So, second date?”

 

“Chanyeol, we're gonna get married. Of course we're gonna have second, third, and so-on dates.”

 

“Right, if you put it like that…”

 

Baekhyun somehow understood that Chanyeol's version of date was different. He meant it was an obligatory dates. Dates that Baekhyun truly wanted, longed for, waited for, looking forward to. Just like dates between actual lovers.

 

Baekhyun failed to mention that it was also the kind of dates that he wanted.

 

After spending the whole day with Chanyeol, he came to realize that he enjoyed this. He no longer hated dates, and he knew, by the end of this day, he would be looking forward to another, and another.

 

“Order whatever you like. I'll pay,” Chanyeol said, then turned toward the bartender, ready to order his poison.

 

“Coke for me,” Baekhyun replied shortly as he lowered his head and folded his arms, preparing for the train of questions to come.

 

“Huh?” Even from his voice, Baekhyun knew the man was scrunching his brows. “Only coke? Why, you don't drink?”

 

Sighing, Baekhyun raised his head, knowing that he wouldn't get away with this. Not with Chanyeol. “No, I drink. But never outside the confinement of my apartment.”

 

Baekhyun looked into Chanyeol's eyes, willing him to just drop it. He still didn't want to show the weak side of him although Chanyeol had let himself bare in front of him a few nights ago. Baekhyun knew he should've refused going to the pub, after all. But he really didn't want the night to end so early.

 

“You could drink, I'll be your DD for the night.”

 

“Is this…” Chanyeol bit his lip. “Is this because of your…”

 

_ Your trauma _ . Chanyeol didn't say it, but it was there. “Yeah, well,” Baekhyun forced a smile. “I can't get drunk when I arrived home since I need to--”

 

“I'll do it for you.” Chanyeol grabbed his hand. Then he looked into Baekhyun's eyes with the exact soft yet intense gaze that had been directed to him the whole course of their date today. “You can drink, you can get drunk. I'll do your routine for you. I'll make sure it's safe. I'll make sure  _ you're _ safe.”

 

There Chanyeol went again and Baekhyun weirdly had a jolt of punch in his chest, his eyes stung. “You don't have to do it.” His voice was weak.

 

With the corner of his mouth lifted, Chanyeol placed his palm on the side of Baekhyun's head and brought him closer. His lips were ghosting over Baekhyun's other side of the head when he said, “I don't have to, but I want to. You can drink and have fun. I'll make sure you will get to your room safely.”

 

When Chanyeol released his hold on him, Baekhyun was sure that the soft gaze would still be plastered on Chanyeol's eyes, and he wasn't wrong. It only made Baekhyun flushed even more. “Are you sure?”

 

“Seems like I'll be your DD tonight.” Chanyeol grinned.

  
  
  
  
  


“Fuck,” Chanyeol wheezed out a curse when Baekhyun almost slipped from his hold as he tried to enter the passcode of the drunk man’s apartment door.

 

The sound of passcode button told that Baekhyun didn’t give him the wrong numbers earlier when they got out of his car, although the smaller guy was completely wasted. Chanyeol quickly tightened his hand back around his fiance’s waist as he opened the door and dragged him the both of them.

 

Baekhyun was unconscious in his hold, and Chanyeol had promised to do his routine for him. So he laid Baekhyun slowly on his couch that was nearest to the door.

 

Baekhyun squeezed his eyes before he blinked his eyes half-open. “Chanyeol…”

 

“Ssh… Just sleep, I’m going to check your house now, okay?” he said as he kept on stroking Baekhyun’s head, willing him to close his eyes again.

 

“Hmm… Be careful,” he voiced out slurly, then closed his eyes.

 

_ So cute _ . Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile at the sleeping figure. He was glad that Baekhyun could have fun today. And to think that he could do it because he put his trust on Chanyeol just made his chest warm. Slowly… slowly… He would make Baekhyun trust him completely. “I will. I’ll be back.”

 

With that Chanyeol went to every room. Baekhyun’s room, living room, kitchen, bathroom, guest room, porch, no crook and nook left untouched by him. Just like Baekhyun, it took him almost five minutes to check all the rooms. When he finished and got back to where Baekhyun was asleep, there was a cold lump Chanyeol’s stomach.

 

Did Baekhyun really have to do that everyday, feeling unbelievably terrified that at some point someone would jump on him and attack him?

 

Wherever that culprit that hurt Baekhyun back then now, he hoped he would never met them, or else Chanyeol would kill them.

 

Chanyeol willed the dread in him to go away as he leaned them to kiss Baekhyun’s temple in attempt to wake him up. “Babe, let’s go to your room, alright?”

 

With only one of his eyes open, Baekhyun tried to find Chanyeol. “Mmnh… everything alright?” he slurred.

 

“It’s clear. You’re safe.” Chanyeol circled his arm around his waist once again. “Come on, let’s go.”

 

Chanyeol didn’t know how he did it, since never once in his life did he took care of a drunk person. He figured he probably do it solely based on instinct, whatever that could make Baekhyun comfortable. He let Baekhyun sleep still in his jeans, but he took off his sweater and made him sleep only in his tees. He forced him to drink water to make him feel better. And he ended up stroking his hair constantly, hoping the gentle touch could soothe him and help him relax.

 

Chanyeol watched Baekhyun’s heavy breath become soft by minutes, and the crease in his forehead was gone. What seemed like a simple offer to let him have fun turn into something more. He could see Baekhyun’s hidden side and this simply became one of the most intimate moment between them although one of them was unconscious.

 

Baekhyun stirred in his sleep, burying his face for a few moments in his pillow before he emerged once again and his clouded gaze landed on his eyes.

 

“Hey,” Chanyeol said quietly.

 

Baekhyun blinked. “Are you going to stay?”

 

“I want to. I could sleep on your couch.”

 

Nodding, Baekhyun leaned more into Chanyeol’s touch. “Thank you for today, Chanyeol.”

 

“You deserve it,” he said, as his chest warmed. “I hope you have fun, sweetheart.” Chanyeol would take the chance to throw around the terms of endearment all he wanted tonight while Baekhyun was too wasted to protest.

 

“I did have fun.” Baekhyun was quiet for a moment before he continued. “About the second date you mentioned earlier… Will you come with me?”

 

Well, that surely caught him off guard, but it didn’t mean that he would refuse. “Of course, where would you like to go?”

 

“My hometown. My mother’s birthday is next week.”

 

Chanyeol froze, blinking once, twice. Did he hear his fiance right? He was confused as to where this was going. “You want me to come with you to meet your family?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Baekhyun’s gaze was unwavering, and it staggered Chanyeol. Somehow, he needed something to hold onto, so he held Baekhyun’s hand and squeezed it tight. He was silent for so long until he realized his drunk fiance was waiting for his response. “Alright, I think it’s best to talk about it later when you’re sober and not out of your head, babe.”

 

There was a hint of smile in Baekhyun’s face, like he was genuinely amused. “I want you to meet my family. And when I am sober later, I’ll still want you to meet my family.”

 

Baekhyun probably didn’t mean anything. This was nothing but an invitation to visit his parents’ house. Not for the reasons Chanyeol was thinking of. After all, they weren’t real couple, they weren’t real fiances. But for a moment, yes, Chanyeol would pretend that this was Baekhyun wanting him to meet his family, to introduce himself, since he himself would soon become a part of his family. So Chanyeol just smiled, caressing Baekhyun’s hand. “My pleasure, Baekhyun.”

 


	8. The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I want Chanyeol to meet you guys, and I want all of you to meet Chanyeol, since he’s… he’s my fiance.”

Baekhyun thought he had gone crazy. He must've lost his goddamn mind since right now he was sitting on his office lobby, with his overnight bag on his feet, waiting for Park Chanyeol to pick him up.

Then they would go together to his parents's house.

Baekhyun grabbed his hair and made a mess out of it. God, it seemed like a good decision at that time. He really,  _ really _ wanted to take Chanyeol to meet his parents. After all, the two parties would surely meet sooner or later since they were getting married. Besides, he just wanted to bring Chanyeol… somewhere. And that somewhere was the place where he grew up, where all his family would be. A side in him that he wanted Chanyeol to know, and it just felt natural to ask him to come.

Baekhyun kept his promise back then. Even if the first time he laid out the proposition was when he was drunk, he still asked his fiance to come when he woke up the next morning, albeit with massive hangover loomed over him. And Chanyeol said yes, with a bright excited yet nervous smile. Baekhyun then knew he was making the right decision.

But now.  _ Oh God _ , he was a nervous wreck.

Thousand of questions flashed through his mind. What was his parents’ reaction gonna be? Did both he and Chanyeol ready to go meet them? What would they say if his parents asked about their relationship?

All this time since they got engaged, they only introduced each other as fiance to merely colleagues or acquaintances. They could past them just fine. But this was his  _ family _ , the closest people to him. How would Baekhyun be able to lie right under their noses? He could never imagine.

And the fact that he hadn’t had sleep for more than five hours in a span of two days wasn’t helping. Proposal deadline had always been hellish. His body already felt feverish, his head was pounding, and his mind was being overly hyper aware.

That, plus his nervousness of meeting his family, was definitely not a good combination.

The brief sound of familiar car horn almost made Baekhyun lose his balance on his chair. His eyes frantically searched for the source of the sound, and surprise, surprise, there Chanyeol’s car was. All slick and ready to pick him up.

With fatigue latched onto his body, Baekhyun walked out of his office toward the black car, anxiety looming over him as Chanyeol got out to greet him. He somehow felt better when he saw Chanyeol wasn’t in a better state as him. His tall fiance also looked as tired and anxious. Poor guy, if anything, Chanyeol must’ve been more nervous than him.

“Hey,” Chanyeol said as he approached him. “Is that all you got?” he asked about the small overnight bag Baekhyun was holding,

“Yeah, we only go for two nights, didn’t I tell you?”

“You did.” Chanyeol took his bag. “Just expected you gonna bring more. Hey, you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Chanyeol blinked. “Okay first, you weren’t giving me stink eyes the first time you see me. Second, you didn’t give me sass. Third, you look really pale and your eyes are bloodshot. Fourth--”

“Alright, alright, shut up. You’re giving me headache. Can we just go?” Baekhyun didn’t wait for Chanyeol to answer him and just brush past him, entering his car.

Chanyeol followed him a few seconds later, taking his position on the driver seat after he put Baekhyun’s luggage in the trunk. “Seriously, you okay? I’m genuinely worried now.”

Baekhyun could see that. Chanyeol was giving him his soft eyes while his forehead was all scrunched up in worry. “I could say the same. You look tired.”

“I’m gonna be honest. I’m nervous as hell, I couldn’t sleep last night.” Then his eyes widened. “Wait, are you like this because you’re nervous too?”

Well, how to answer that… “I’m fine, Chanyeol.” He shrugged. “I have deadline this week and I’m just sleep deprived. I only slept for five hours in two days.”

Chanyeol gaped. “Are you kidding?”

“I wish I am.”

“Shit, Baekhyun, why didn’t you tell me?” Chanyeol immediately put on his seatbelt. “Let’s hurry, then. So we could arrive faster and you could rest in a proper bed.”

Baekhyun hummed as he too put on his seatbelt and kept moving on his seat, looking for the most comfortable position. Now that he was inside Chanyeol’s car and in the presence of his fiance, his body felt relax. He couldn’t even remember why he was so on edge a few minutes ago.

Chanyeol looked at him for a few seconds. It was difficult to tear his gaze from the man when he was looking at him with such tender, like Baekhyun was the most adorable thing in the world. “Do you want to get some coffee first or you just want to sleep? It’ll take three hours to get to Yanggu. We'll arrive approximately at 8 PM.”

“No coffee,” Baekhyun replied, and he closed his eyes when Chanyeol’s hand stroke his hair. It was as comforting as the time when Chanyeol took care of him while he got drunk a week ago. “But I think I’m not gonna sleep either, or else I’m going to wake up extremely groggy and my body will ache.”

“Alright.” Chanyeol smiled. “Get comfortable and tell me if you want to stop and want something to drink or eat.”

Baekhyun fell completely silent as he watched Chanyeol got into position and started the car. After a good few seconds and they got into the main street, his eyes started to got heavier. So much for saying that he didn’t want to go to sleep.

“Can you talk to me?” Baekhyun rubbed his eyes. “I really don’t want to fall asleep.”

Chanyeol chuckled after he took a short glance at him. His expression was clearly amused. “Somehow seeing you like this makes my nervousness evaporate.”

“Great. My misery put you in peace.”

“Aw, babe, what are you talking about? You always make me in peace.”

Baekhyun fake a scoff. “Right.”

Chanyeol laughed at that and Baekhyun felt his stomach squeeze. Warmth spread in his chest and he just felt really comfortable right now in the company of his so called enemy. Though he wasn't sure if he could call him that now anymore. He didn't remember the last time he felt dread or hatred when he was face to face or thinking about his fiance. Instead, he felt safe. Just like right now. How did they get to this point, Baekhyun would never know.

“So,” Chanyeol cleared his throat. His easy demeanor changed slightly. It seemed like his nervousness had come back. “I’m going to meet your family, any information you want to tell me? Other than the fact that your parents hate me, of course.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun was taken aback by the accusation. “Who said my parents hate you?”

“Well, I kicked their teenage son out of the house. Of course, they hate me, shortie.”

“They don't. What you did back then was stupid but they don't hate you.”

“You didn't know that I got an earful from your mom the day after I kissed you, right?” Chanyeol looked at him, showing him his nervous smile.

Baekhyun's lips pulled upward. “You kidding.”

Chanyeol let out a whistle, like he was glad that that moment stayed in the past. Like it was something he didn't want to experience ever again. “She got me depressed as fuck. I felt like I was the lowest of low of a human being.”

Baekhyun couldn't help but let out an outbursts of ugly laugh. “That sounds a lot like my mom.”

“Then a month later both your mom and dad quitted their jobs.” Chanyeol shrugged. “I think that's a clear sign that they hate me for hurting their son.”

Baekhyun couldn't deny that. It was true that their parents quitted because of him, but it wasn't because they hated Chanyeol. It was more for the sake of their pride. There was no way they were going to stay employed by the person who hurt their son, although technically Chanyeol wasn't their employer.

“I just…” Chanyeol spoke but stopped, and Baekhyun waited until he sorted out his words. “I just want them to see me as someone worth of your hands. It's okay if it's not immediately, I'm sure this won't be the last time I'll see them. And I have full intention to get their blessings no matter how long it takes.”

_ Ahh… _ This wasn't fair. Chanyeol was being a gentleman in a time like this wasn't fair. “You don’t have to worry. They’re not gonna… kill you or something. If anything, it’s probably me who would be the receiving end, no? I’m sure they would be like, scream at me.”

Chanyeol’s face softened. “Yeah, screaming like what the hell are you thinking, Byun Baekhyun? I bet your mom will faint.”

“You know what? That’s such a high probability.” Baekhyun sighed. “Now I hope I told my mom before we come today.”

Biting his lips, Chanyeol gripped the steering wheel tighter. Like he was contemplating to utter his next words. And Baekhyun just waited. “I told my mom,” Chanyeol mumbled, almost inaudible.

Baekhyun's blurred vision due to sleepiness cleared. He straightened his posture, straining his seatbelt.  “You what?”

“I already told my mom about us. That we're engaged.”

Baekhyun blinked, seemingly at lost of words. “Your mom. Mrs. Park,” he deadpanned.

Amusement swam across Chanyeol's eyes. He looked at Baekhyun's astonished face for a second and chuckled. “I only have one mom, babe.”

“Yeah, sure, I know. It's just--”

“I told her even before you agreed to marry me, you know. That's how confident I was that you were going to accept me.”

“Jesus Christ.” Baekhyun let out a heavy sigh. He didn't expect it at all, for Chanyeol to reveal their relationship to his most important person in his life.

“Are you… are you mad?”

“Of course not.” Baekhyun rested his back once again, letting Chanyeol's comfy seat buried him. “Just a little bit shocked.”

Chanyeol hummed. “I have one more surprise though.”

“Oh, God, no.”

“Would you check the compartment in front of you? There's something I want you to see.”

Baekhyun did what his fiance asked him to, and he could've sworn his heart stopped when he saw the black box. He wasn't an idiot. He  _ knew _ what the content would be.

“Chanyeol…” he croaked out, his eyes still locked on the small box.

Nervous laugh came from beside him. “Take it out. Open it.”

It felt like he moved on autopilot. He watched his hand reach out to take the box, feeling the velvet material on his fingertips, and finally opened it, so slowly, like he was afraid to break it.

Baekhyun let out a gasp as soon as the beautiful silver band made an appearance. As weird as this situation could be, he felt his eyes sting.

He didn't even realize that Chanyeol had pulled onto the sideroad and put the car to a stop, as right now Chanyeol was turning his body to face him, his hand took Baekhyun's.

“Baekhyun.” His adam's apple bobbed in his throat. “I thought it would be strange if we go see your family without you wearing the ring. It's been bugging my mind all this time that you didn't wear it, that I didn't ask you enough if you wanted to wear it. While it's true that I want your family to see that this is real, between you and me, I guess I also want the physical evidence that you're mine.”

Baekhyun felt his throat burn. Why would he feel so emotional about this? It wasn't like this is real, anyway. Chanyeol clearly stated that this was so their act looked more real, but he also said that he wanted everyone to know that Baekhyun was his. And Baekhyun strangely liked that reason. He liked it a lot he wanted to cry.

Baekhyun faked a groan as he silently cleared his throat so Chanyeol wouldn't know how much this affected him. “This is not fair.”

Chanyeol tilted his head. “What's not?”

“You do this when I'm not in a good condition. I'm feeling emotional and soft right now.”

Chanyeol was clearly satisfied with his response as he was grinning from ear to ear, his grim and nervous energy suddenly gone and replaced by relief and excitement. “So it only took you to be sick or sleep deprived so you could accept my proposal.”

“I thought you already know,” Baekhyun sneered.

Chanyeol let out his first laugh since the whole ordeal. He had come back to his usual self. Thank God. “Alright, let me put it on for you.”

Chanyeol took the box from Baekhyun's hold, picking the ring from inside it. Then with a swift motion, he slipped the ring to Baekhyun's left ring finger. It was so beautiful it took his breath away. And judging by Chanyeol's stunned eyes, the latter obviously thought the same.

“Where's yours?” Baekhyun asked.

“Huh?”

“Where's your ring? If I've got to wear this, you should too.”

“Well, I have mine.” Chanyeol reached to his pocket pants, and true to his words, a matching silver band like his was on Chanyeol's hand now. “You want to me wear mine too?”

“I'm not engaged by myself, aren't I?” Baekhyun smirked. “And you're not… you're not the only one who wanted the physical evidence that we're together.”

Now it was Chanyeol who looked like he was gonna fighting his tears. It was a strange yet good look on him.

Baekhyun took the ring from Chanyeol and did what Chanyeol just did to him, slipping the ring to Chanyeol's calloused ring finger. He could feel Chanyeol shuddered, and himself blushed madly.

Before Chanyeol could comment on it, Baekhyun turned his face away and once again put distance between them, resting his back to the seat. “We need to go now.” He cleared his throat. “We wouldn't want to miss dinner.”

Chanyeol chuckled before he grabbed the steering wheel. “You'll be the death of me, Byun Baekhyun.”

  
  
  
  
  


Chanyeol was the one who was just driving for three hours, but Baekhyun was the one who looked like he was ready to die any second.

Chanyeol's priority now was to put his fiance to the fucking bed. Though he knew that it probably wouldn't be so soon as they still needed to do some family introduction bullshit. Chanyeol was worried out of his head and he wasn't sure being polite to his fiance's family and making a good first impression were on the top of his list right now.

“Uh, fuck,” Baekhyun grumbled, massaging his head non-stop even now that they already arrived.

“You okay?” Chanyeol took off his as well as Baekhyun's seatbelts. “I'm not gonna have to carry you inside, right?”

“Shut up,” Baekhyun spat. His calm and cute demeanor from the beginning of their ride had been long gone. He was being super cranky and high.

“I'll get our bags,” Chanyeol initiated. Baekhyun was having a hard time to even drag his own body, there was just no way he could carry his overnight bag.

As soon as he got out of the car, the fresh breeze of mountain area welcomed him. The cold weather was bearable too. And since he didn't have the time to look around when he focused on driving and listening to his fiance's slur words when he tried to direct him to his house, only now that Chanyeol truly saw Baekhyun's family house.

Even from the outside, he could tell how warm it was. Through the windows, the silhouette of people inside were seen, the yellow lights drown them. He also could hear faint sounds of laughter and yells.

What a lively family. Something Chanyeol never had.

The sound of Baekhyun opening and closing his side of door pulled Chanyeol out of his head. He immediately took their bags on the back seat and followed his fiance who slowly took steps toward the door of his house.

“So,” Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun's hand, linking them together, while his other hand was busy with their bags. “Any last advice you gotta tell me?”

Baekhyun blinked his eyes slowly, like he would sleep right there and then. “I can't think right now.”

Chanyeol felt his heart’s string being pulled. “Okay, let's get you to bed.”

“Yes, please.”

As Chanyeol slipped his hand around Baekhyun's waist, he strangely didn't feel a single anxiety in him. It was weird, since he had been pondering how to greet Baekhyun's family the first time for the past week. And now that confusion had vanished, like this wasn't something he needed to rack his brain over. He could tell that the night would go smoothly even if he behaved like his usual self.   


Chanyeol was about to knock the door, his fist already raised. But it was like whoever behind this door knew that they got visitors. The door was already opened wide before Chanyeol knew it.   


"Mom!"   


The familiar woman Baekhyun called mom beamed. "Baekhyun! Finally, sweetheart." She opened her arms.   


And just like that, Chanyeol's fiance was no longer in his hold.   


Hints of tiredness was instantly wiped off from Baekhyun, he smiled and hugged his mom tight. "I miss you, Mom. Sorry I only came home now."   


"Awh," the woman pulled away. "It's okay. What matter is now you're here." Then she finally tore her sight from her son and did a double-take on Chanyeol. "Oh, how rude of me ignoring our guest. I'm Byun Sehee, Baekhyun's mom."   


Chanyeol swallowed as his eyes darted to Baekhyun. The woman was obviously couldn't recognize him, whether it was because of Chanyeol's change of appearance or the low light of the porch.   


Baekhyun let out an awkward smile. "Mom, this is Chanyeol. You remember him."    


Chanyeol braced himself for spite, rage, or any kind of ... But none came. Instead, Mrs. Byun clapped her hands. "Of course. Oh my God, how could I not recognize you. Master Chanyeol."   


Chanyeol's chest was tight. He really didn't expect a warm smile from her. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Byun. And please call me Chanyeol. Have you been well?"   


"I'm a very happy and healthy soon-to-be 54 years old woman."   


"Oh wow, Baekhyun didn't mention that this was your 54th birthday. I thought it was your fortieth birthday."   


The woman laughed. "You're a charmer now, aren't you, Chanyeol? Well, this is a nice surprise." She glanced at her son. Even Chanyeol could see, that she was definitely throwing silent questions to her son.   


"Yeah, Mom, Chanyeol's going to stay for the weekend to join your birthday celebration."   


"Oh, really? How nice."   


"And also, uhm..."   


Baekhyun paused and it looked like he was about to bolt, like this place was the last place he wanted be, like this conversation was the last thing he wanted to take part of.

“What is it, sweetheart?” His mom looked confused, and Chanyeol braced himself for the bomb.

It was rather faint, but Chanyeol could see that Baekhyun was trying to draw a deep breath, before he finally said it. “I want Chanyeol to meet you guys, and I want all of you to meet Chanyeol, since he’s… he’s my fiance.”

The words running through the woman’s head were practically invisible to Chanyeol.

What.

The.

Hell?

“Uhm…” Dumbstruck, Mrs. Byun could only blink. Chanyeol bet she didn’t even realize that her mouth had been hung open the entire time. “I’m sorry, but what--”

“Hey, all of you, until when you were going to stay here.” Saved by the bell, or rather saved by Baekhyun’s dad. “My boy, come in. And whoa, is that you, Master Chanyeol?”

Then the mood shifted. Mrs. Byun's confusion was forgotten, but not really forgotten. The next thing Chanyeol knew, he was dragged into the Byuns household, entering the living room where most of the unfamiliar faces of Baekhyun's family were gathered. Soon, Chanyeol was separated from his fiance, as Baekhyun was preoccupied by his cute nieces and nephews, while Chanyeol was forced to discard their bags somewhere and being swooned over by the aunts.

And in the midst of all that chaos, Chanyeol could still feel the sharp lingering gaze of Baekhyun's mom on him. The woman was now talking to her husband, no doubt relying the shocking news, as now the man looked like he was just informed that vampire was real.

  
Chanyeol tore his gaze from the husband and wife, and opted out to search for his fiance. It wasn't difficult. The booming voice of Baekhyun's echoed through the room. His eyes crinkled on the edge as he let his nieces and nephews tickle him. It seemed like his tiredness had gone and replaced by joy and excitement. But Chanyeol knew better. His fiance was unusually spiked by sheer adrenaline so high he would faint once he calmed down later.

  
Excusing himself politely from the aunts, Chanyeol smiled warmly and went over to where the Byun parents were. They still needed to have the talk but it could wait, now he moved on to the more important matter that had been his first priority since they arrived. "Excuse me, Mrs. Byun."

  
The woman looked at him with wide eyes. Chanyeol didn't blame her. The news they delivered must've not sunk in yet. "Darling, Chanyeol, what's wrong?" The words were friendly, but Chanyeol could sense the edge in her voice.

  
"Uhm, sorry to disturb you." Chanyeol glanced at Mr. Byun. Damn, he was judging him so hard it made talking to Baekhyun's mom become the saver choice. "I wonder if I could borrow the kitchen. I gotta make some warm tea or milk for Baekhyun."

  
"Huh?" Baekhyun's mom raised from the couch, already putting her arm on Chanyeol's broad back, steering him to where Chanyeol supposed was the kitchen. "Is he sick?"   
"No, Ma'am. It's just that he hasn't slept for two days."

  
The woman sighed. "Seriously, that kid." She then proceeded to open a cupboard and did the business, even though Chanyeol intended to do it himself. "He never took care of himself."   


"Yeah, he's bad at doing it."   


"But you're there for him though."   


Chanyeol opened his mouth to answer but the words stuck in his throat. "I... I try to do my best."   


"Oh, I'm sure you are."

"Mrs. Byun, I--"   


"Your mother called me a month ago." The woman cut him off, while her hands were still busy heating the milk. "She asked me  _ did you know? _ And I had no idea what she was talking about, so she just laughed and said  _ oh, you're in for a surprise, Sehee _ . I suppose this was what she meant, huh?"   


Rubbing his face, Chanyeol couldn't help to sigh exasperatedly. "I told her to wait for Baekhyun to inform you himself."   


Mrs. Byun laughed. "My son is kinda a coward. He wouldn't dare to tell me on the phone. Besides, I'm glad that your mom somehow warned me. I just never thought that the surprise was this."   


There were many things Chanyeol wanted to say to her. He wanted to apologize, he wanted to tell her his feeling toward her son, he wanted her to know that he had full intention to take care of him, he wanted--   


"We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" She held out her hands, one of them handed him the cup of milk, and the other was squeezing his shoulder. "Just rest for now, you two could sleep in Baekhyun's old room. I suppose you'll skip dinner?"   


"I think so, Ma'am," he croaked out. It had been a long and emotional rollercoaster kind of day, and Chanyeol was drained. "I'm really sorry." He didn't know what he was apologizing for. For what he did in the past? For giving her and her husband the shock of the century? For skipping dinner? His brain and mouth seemed not to be cooperating well.   


"Chanyeol, sweetheart," her voice was dripping with warmth. "Tomorrow, okay? Now go to him, please. He looked like he'll collapse any second now. I can't believe I didn't notice how exhausted he was."   


Chanyeol nodded, excusing himself, though he felt like he needed to say more. But Mrs. Byun was right, Baekhyun might be smiling with his nephews and nieces, but he looked like hell.

The group of children was all over him. It was practically impossible for Chanyeol to get closer so he only stood a couple meters away. “Baekhyun,” he called, wanting the man's attention, or the children's attention, so they could stop.

Baekhyun looked up to him. His eyes glazed, his cheeks flushed, and he was giggling, nonstop. He was  _ really  _ out of it, near to the point of breaking. “Chanyeol, hey!”

“Your mom made you warm milk. Let's go rest.”

If Baekhyun recognized Chanyeol's stern voice, he didn't show it as he kept on giggling, while the children already detached themselves from him. It looked like he just couldn't stop himself rather than keep laughing because there was something actually funny around. The children started to look at him with weird smile, and other family members who Chanyeol still didn't know who was who began to look concern.

“God, I don't know why I can't stop laughing.” Baekhyun covered his mouth with his trembling palm.

“Jesus Christ,” Chanyeol muttered. His fiance was going crazy because of sleep deprive. He sneaked himself through the children and took a seat beside Baekhyun on the couch. “Okay,” his tone had some kind of finality in it. “Drink this, you need to wind down.”

“What's this?” Baekhyun asked with remnants of laugh in his lips.

“Milk, I already told you.”

“I must've missed it.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Chanyeol,” he said, still holding back a laugh.

Even looking so miserable like this, Chanyeol still thought he was so beautiful. If not because of the dozen pair of eyes looking at them, Chanyeol would’ve already kissed him. Instead, he opted out to just rub the small of his back, willing his fiance to wind down.

“Whoa, Mom, you made this, aren’t you? This is so--”

“No talking for at least ten minutes, babe.”

The endearment just slipped, and Chanyeol could hear the gaps coming from the aunties and uncles side, as well as the immediate hushed whispers. But one thing that Chanyeol could easily grasp from their not-so quiet conversation was when Baekhyun’s mom said it loud and clear. “He’s Baekhyun’s fiance. Park Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol expected to get some reaction from Baekhyun, but his fiance just kept drinking his milk quietly with one of his nephews sitting on his feet. Chanyeol wasn’t even sure that he was aware what happened around them.

Baekhyun lowered his cup, then gave it to Chanyeol.

“You need to shower,” Chanyeol got up from the couch, while his hand reached out to pull Baekhyun up with him. “Then let’s go to sleep.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Baekhyun answered, his bad mood due to sleep deprive was back like a lightning. But in contrary, he took Chanyeol’s hand and let himself be pulled up. “The dinner…”

“Darling,” Mrs. Byun called from across the room. The woman was cozying up with her husband hugging her from the back. “You could retreat for the night. We’ll see each other again tomorrow, okay?”

“B-but--”

Mrs. Byun eyes cut to Chanyeol, and he didn’t know since when or how this happened, but somehow, he knew what the woman mean with that gaze. “Come on, babe, show me your room.” Chanyeol forced Baekhyun to turn around around so they could move. Or else, they would just idle here and wait for Baekhyun to finally fall.

The house wasn’t big, with all the rooms got immediate access from the family living room, so it didn’t take too many stumbles from Baekhyun before they arrived to the plain door Chanyeol assumed that would take them to Baekhyun’s room. Just as his fiance opened the door to his room, Chanyeol turned to bow to the “spectators” in the house, and found one of the nephew who sat on Baekhyun’s feet earlier bringing him their bags.

“Hey,” Chanyeol leaned down to take their bags from him, then proceed to ruffle his hair. “Thanks, buddy. What’s your name?”

The kid’s expression turned from nervous to bright in a millisecond. “I’m Jiho,” he answered while beaming. “Is Uncle Baekhyun sick?”

“No, he’s not. Don’t worry. But he needs to rest now, so you could play with you tomorrow nonstop. Sounds good?”

“Yes!” Jiho nodded. What an adorable child.

“Alright, then.” Chanyeol pat the kid’s head once again before he turned to the older people watching him in the living room, then he gave them his final bow.

As he closed the door, the world felt like closed in on him and Chanyeol could finally breathe properly, his heartbeat slowed. Raking his fingers through his hair, he let out a pent-up exhale. “That was pretty nerve-racking,” he huffed.

When he turned around, he didn’t expect to see Baekhyun already splayed on the bed with his face completely buried in the pillows. Chanyeol chuckled as he approached his fiance, at the same time trying to take in his surrounding. The room was definitely different with the one in his own apartment. This one felt… bare. Chanyeol remembered Baekhyun telling him that this house was his parents’ old house. So maybe Baekhyun just didn’t have the time or didn’t stay here enough to decorate it just like his own, before he bought his own place in the city.

“Baekhyun.” Chanyeol sat by the edge of the bed. He could tell that his fiance was already out, judging by the way his body gone totally slack. The hysteria of fatigue obviously had left him powerless. But still, Chanyeol tried to wake him. “Babe, you need to shower first.”

No move from the said man. Baekhyun was dead to the world.

And ironically, Chanyeol’s heart felt so full.

His hand reached out to touch Baekhyun’s soft hair, since he couldn’t touch his face. He ran his fingers through the hair and unconsciously humming unidentified tune, accompanied by the sound of unknown insect outside of the house. He felt absolute peace and by that time, Chanyeol couldn’t care less about shower or even go change their clothes.

Instead, he sneaked his arm underneath Baekhyun’s body, turning him around so he could sleep on his back comfortably. Now that Chanyeol could look at Baekhyun’s sleeping face, he thought that, yeah, screw shower. He was just gonna sleep with his fiance on his side until morning. He was tired, and he had a feeling tomorrow would be a really long and exhausting day for him.


	9. The Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sit here."  
> "Huh, why?"  
> "Because I want to hug my fiance, that's why."

As Chanyeol woke up when the clock hit number 9 and the yellow light of morning sun seeped in through the curtain, he realized one thing: that he was a freaking sap.

He had always been aware of it, judging by the fact that his heart had stayed true and faithful to one boy for more than ten years. But in this delightful morning, with his wrinkled and smelly working clothes stuck to his skin, his hands numb because somehow he hadn't moved much for twelve hours, Chanyeol had never felt more content. Because he woke up with the love of his life in his arms.

His chest was never this warmth. 

Baekhyun squirmed in his sleep, and Chanyeol was completely gone. He was so fucking in love with the man. He could no longer deny it. 

"God," he mumbled as he buried his face on Baekhyun's hair. "I don't deserve you." 

"Hmm?" 

Chanyeol pulled away just to find that his sleeping beauty had finally opened his eyes. They were unfocused and Baekhyun looked like an idiot trying to find Chanyeol's eyes while he was right _there_ . But Chanyeol still loved him all the same. 

"Hey," Chanyeol's tone dripping with affection. "Good morning, sunshine." 

Baekhyun groaned. "Shut up. Stop being sappy in the morning." 

"Still grumpy, I see. You’ve slept for twelve hours, you know?" 

"I feel like I need another twelve." Baekhyun then proceeded to bury himself back onto Chanyeol's chest. 

What a perfect morning. The morning of Chanyeol's dream. The morning he thought he would never get. 

"Do you feel, okay? Can you even remotely function today?" Chanyeol chuckled. 

"Yeah, just give me a few minutes." 

Chanyeol gave what Baekhyun wanted. After all, he enjoyed being like this, just laying on the comfortable bed, buried in fluffy pillows and blanket, with his whole world in his arms. Chanyeol always wondered how did it feel to sleep in the middle of grassy field on the top of the mountain, and he thought this was it. 

A few minutes had passed, and true to his words, Baekhyun opened his eyes once again, and this time they were much clearer like the sky in the summer. 

"Why were you sleeping with me?" Baekhyun snarky question didn't even faze Chanyeol. He was too blissful. 

"Your mom shoved me into this room. Should I sleep on your rug instead?" 

"Hmm, I guess you deserve this much." 

"You're an angel." 

They were drown in silent the next second. And Chanyeol thought it was ridiculous how much he loved seeing Baekhyun's eyes locked on him in such a close proximity. The urge to stare on his lips was unbearable but Chanyeol refused to give in, because he knew the moment his gaze fell onto those lips, he would be a lost cause. And Chanyeol didn't want to ruin this moment. 

"Should we get out? It's your mom's birthday and I'm sure she's waiting for her son to greet her." 

Baekhyun's eyes widened. "Shit, I totally forgot." 

Chanyeol let out an amused chuckle. "Seriously? Are you still asleep or does my morning look distract you so much?" 

"Sigh, you could be very charming if you just shut up, you know." 

"Did you just utter the word sigh rather than actually sighing?" 

"Roll eyes." 

"Oh my God, Byun Baekhyun, I thought I was the ridiculous one in this relationship." 

"You still take the cake."  


  
  
  


Baekhyun didn’t realize that most of the members his big family were here in his house.

No one could blame him as he was half high, half asleep, half crazy last night. Now that he was welcomed by twenty pair of curious eyes, give or take, Baekhyun promised himself he would sleep religiously like a normal human being from now on.

The prospect to just spend the day inside his room, lounging like a panda on his bed along with his annoying fiance was far more appealing than having to answer endless questions about his nonexistent love life. But then again, he couldn’t tell that it was in fact nonexistent since no one knew that Chanyeol was only his fiance by contract.

Baekhyun almost felt bad for his relatives, but he was terribly guilty to lie to his parents. He really, really wanted to tell the truth to them, but knew it would only complicate things.

When his mom pulled Chanyeol away from the crowded backyard where everyone including Baekhyun had breakfast, Baekhyun was ready to jump into saving his fiance, but Chanyeol was giving a look that clearly said _he got this_.

Baekhyun didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he decided to trust him. After all, that was what he was trying to learn this past few weeks. And the guy had proved himself over and over again that he was nothing but serious when he said that he was going to _earn_ Baekhyun’s trust properly.

So he let Chanyeol go with his mom, to wherever they were going to go, to do whatever they were going to do, to say whatever they were going to discuss. Baekhyun only hoped that Chanyeol didn’t slip and make this weekend getaway even more dreadful.

Baekhyun had a more pressing matter in his hands, in the form of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and Do Kyungsoo.

Of course Kyungsoo would be here, this was Baekhyun’s mother birthday party, and Kyungsoo never missed it because he was like the second son of his mother. _Of course_. How could Baekhyun not remember this before he invited Chanyeol here? How could he not warn Chanyeol about this? With their history ten years ago, Baekhyun wasn’t sure if this weekend could go on without some blood shed.

Fucking Do Kyungsoo. His best friend slash ex-boyfriend who was now looking at him like Baekhyun just committed the worst crime ever and he was ready to judge him with the highest punishment there was.

Dead. Baekhyun would be dead in approximately ten seconds because now his best friend slash ex-boyfriend was walking toward him, ready to kill him.

  
  
  
  


“Relax, sweetheart. We’re just gonna talk, I’m not going to torture you or anything.”

Chanyeol forced himself to smile, but it was kind of difficult when he felt like dying with his heart trying to burst out of its ribcage. Usually, Chanyeol thought himself as someone ruthless. His subordinates feared him, his step brothers was intimidated by him, his clients respected the hell out of him. But right now, right here, under the judging eyes of Mrs. Byun Sehee, he was nothing.

He knew this would happen. Since ten years ago, he once in a while wondered what he would do if in the future he would meet Baekhyun again, and how he could convince Baekhyun’s parents that what he did in the past was just something idiotic a teenager stupidly in love do. He often ran a scenario in his head of how he would fall to his knees in front of Baekhyun’s parents if it meant he could get their permission to date or marry their son.

He truly didn’t expect that his imagination would come true right about now.

Chanyeol must’ve looked like he wanted to throw up because Mrs. Byun was patting his knee, calming him while Chanyeol’s hands trembled, making the cup he was holding with the hot black coffee inside it shook. The couch he sat on felt like fire, and the empty living room started to cage him in.

“I’ll let you tell what happen. I’m not gonna ask anything,” the woman said. Chanyeol once again wondered how did an ordinary sentence could sound so daunting.

“Uhm,” Chanyeol decided to look up. If he wanted to do this, he would do it like a man. A man that Baekhyun trusted and depended on. “I don’t know where to start, Ma’am, but…”

Chanyeol searched for the right words, trying to utter lies as less as possible. He didn’t want to feel guilty more than he already was.

“I met Baekhyun again only a few months ago.” He started. No lie there. “I was looking for a business partner when my secretary stumbled upon his and his company’s profile and proposed him to me. That was when I realized that it was him, and I took no time before went to see him.”

Mrs. Byun listened, her eyes swam deep into his soul, but there were no mean judgment. She looked at him like she was genuinely curious and interested.

So Chanyeol continued. “Baekhyun kicked me out of his office the first time we met.” He chuckled, and the woman followed. “Since then, I realized that I don’t want to let go of him. So I relentlessly… courted him, until he gave in then I uttered… the question.”

Did that explanation convincing enough? Chanyeol started to sweat and his mind numbed. But he really didn’t want to lie. He only tried to omit some of the things he couldn’t tell the woman, and prayed that the story didn’t seem too strange and empty.

“How did he react to you proposing to him?” Mrs. Byun asked, her eyes twinkling with wonder as she sipped her jasmine tea.

Chanyeol remembered how red Baekhyun’s face would be everytime Chanyeol bring up the proposal. That was a time worth to be remembered. “To put it simply he was enraged.” Chanyeol laughed. “But… I don’t know, one night he just agreed, and… The fact that he was willing to trust me and put his life on my hands once again even after I hurt him badly really humbled me and I never felt more grateful, Mrs. Byun.”

Suddenly, his heartbeat slowed to a steady rhythm and his mind no longer reeling. And he realized that this probably what would constantly happen every time he merely thought or talked about his fiance: absolute peace and warmth enveloping him.

Just how sappy he could be, he had no idea. Baekhyun would surely gag if he knew, but at the same time, Chanyeol wanted Baekhyun to know how much the thought of him was enough to make him, a whole 185cm of man, weak.

Baekhyun thought he was a man with rough edges when in fact he was weak. So weak.

“You know…” Mrs. Byun put her cup down, and her hands at first looked like they were going to reach for Chanyeol’s. But she opted out to folded them on her lap. “Even from back then, I could easily tell that you liked my son and what you did to him was just some childish tantrum.”

Chanyeol broke his gaze. Somehow, he just couldn’t hold it. He lowered his head, eyes locked onto his own fidgeting hands.

“But my son was also just a kid. A dumb teenager that liked to make everything else more complicated that it should be, so he gave into his initial anger and hatred toward you, and just fled away. Without even looking back, without even listening to your explanation or your apology.”

“Both of you were just stupid teenager.” She smiled, then finally took Chanyeol’s hands. It was warmth and soothing at the same time. “But now you’ve found each other again.”

Chanyeol raised his head, the gaze from the woman kind of overwhelmed him.

“And you’re gonna take care of him.” It wasn’t question. It was uttered as if Mrs. Byun _knew_ that it was exactly what Chanyeol gonna do from now on.

 _With all my life._ “Yes, Ma’am.”

The woman nodded. Gone all the curious and judging traces from her eyes. All that left was inescapable fondness. “Then it’s enough for me. Just make sure that all the misunderstanding are cleared, no more secrets between the two of you, say what needed to be said. Do not wait until it’s all too late and both of you need to wait for another ten years to solve the problem.”

It felt like a mountain just lifted from his back. It was almost the same feeling when Baekhyun said that he was going to give him chance to prove himself. Because right here, right now, the woman who gave birth to the love of his life just granted him the only thing he wanted in life. Her son.

Chanyeol wanted to kiss her, but decided to just sip on his bitter coffee which now had turned slightly cold, yet oddly, sweeter.

“Besides,” Baekhyun’s mom took back her cup. “I really like your mother. Who would ever expect my ex-employer would become my in-law. Oh my God, I need to call her.”

  
  
  
  


“You bring Park Chanyeol here?”

“Fuck, Kyungsoo, lower your voice, will you?”

 _“You bring Park Chanyeol here?”_ Kyungsoo repeated, with the same appalled tone, but with slightly lower voice, albeit it was still too loud in Baekhyun’s ears. What if his relatives hear?

“Yes,” Baekhyun replied with loud whisper. “I bring him here. It’s my mom’s birthday. Nothing wrong with it, right?”

“God, Byun Baekhyun, there’s so many wrong in this situation right now.”

“Would you stop saying our full names? Calm the fuck down.”

With that, Kyungsoo pulled him far away from the crowd. Baekhyun could tell easily that his best friend was taking him to behind the large tree they usually sat at in the time they wanted to talk privately and hide from the crowd that was Baekhyun’s family.

As soon as they were hidden, Kyungsoo immediately gripped his shoulders, forcing Baekhyun to stand straight against the trunk of tree. “You promised me to tell me what happened the last time you called me. But you kept avoiding my calls and your secretary kept saying that your schedule was too packed for you to meet me. And now I found you playing whatever shit you’re playing right now, and you expect me to calm down?”

Baekhyun gulped. “Okay, first, it’s true that I avoided your call, but it’s also true that I’ve been unbelievable busy this past few weeks. My company is on the verge of collapsing.”

“You’re such a shitty best friend.”

“I know, I’m sorry. And I’m not playing anything right now. I brought Chanyeol here because I want to introduce him to my family since now he’s my fiance.”

Kyungsoo’s expression turned to something akin to violent, like he was a second away from picking random stone on the ground and threw it to Baekhyun’s head. “You what?” he yelled.

Shit. Did Baekhyun not tell Kyungsoo? He was totally out of it, wasn’t he? Since he agreed to marry Chanyeol, it was like his reasonings had flew out of the window in pretty much every aspect of his life. “Chanyeol is now my fiance?” His sentence coming out like a sentence.

“How?” Kyungsoo gaped. “How can you become his fiance?”

“Because he proposed to me? I already told you that.”

“Yeah, but that… that doesn’t make sense. Baekhyun, you… you hated him. You fucking _ran_ away from him ten years ago.”

Baekhyun fiddled with his fingers. This was the moment of truth. This was where he needed to decide if he should tell Kyungsoo the truth or just kept him in the blind just like what he did to his family.

Baekhyun had nothing to say about the past, because he did run away from him. He was angry, and hurt, and embarrassed, and guilty, and mostly hurt. And now, there was no guarantee that all that happened in the past wouldn’t repeat itself. Then, what? Baekhyun would be left completely broken once again.

“I know what I'm doing, Kyungsoo.”

“Do you?” Kyungsoo's tone had turn into a gentle one, his eyes soft. “Because you don't look like you're sure.”

“He's changed. I know that this sounds insane but Park Chanyeol has changed. He… God, he cares for me. And I just…” he trailed off, unable to find the words, unable to look at his best friend either.

“I understand. You always like him and always have a soft spot for him.”

That made Baekhyun snap his eyes back to the man in front of him. “No, I didn't.”

“Oh, come on.” Kyungsoo chuckled. “Even when we were together, I could tell that you really liked him. That's why when you told me the reason you broke up with me I wasn't angry because you betrayed or cheated on me or something, but because I knew that you were hurt. Really hurt.”

Baekhyun could always trust Kyungsoo to punch him in the gut with his words. He was tired and _still_ sleep deprived, and his best friend was an expert in knocking some sense into him. But the thing was, Baekhyun still wanted this. He wanted to be stupid and reckless for Chanyeol.

Did he say that he said yes to Chanyeol's proposal because of the interesting merit he would get for his business? Utter. Fucking. Bullshit.

Deep down, he knew that he did this because, just like Kyungsoo said, he was fucking weak for Park Chanyeol. And he just got himself jumping into this mess head first, unarmed, unprotected, like he was willing to be eaten alive.

“I just don't want you to be in pain again, Baekhyun.”

“I--” his voice caught in his throat, burning. Baekhyun set his jaws tight. “I trust him, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo sighed and gave him a look that practically said _what am I gonna do with you_ . “Alright, then _I'll_ trust _you_. Really, Baekhyun, if you were happy, I am. You're my best friend and I want the best for you.”

And that was all that matter for Baekhyun, the support of his best friend. He knew that it was incredibly selfish, but knowing that Kyungsoo would be there if he fell, was really calming. “Thank you, Kyungsoo.”

“I'm sorry I ruin your mood in your mom's birthday.” Kyungsoo finally let go of him, taking a step back.

“Nah.” Baekhyun scratched his nape, suddenly feeling shy for their previous heartfelt conversation. “I'm fine.”

“Do I need to go home?”

“What? Why?”

“Because Park Chanyeol, who is now your freaking fiance, is here.”

“Why does that have to do with you going home? You're always welcomed here.”

“Because I feel like Chanyeol gonna murder me if he see me.”

“What are you talking about? Of course, he won't.”

Kyungsoo snorted. “Don't tell me you didn't know. That fiance of yours was possessive as fuck. Back then he always looked like he was one breath away from killing me every time he saw you with me.”

Baekhyun gaped. Kyungsoo must've been hallucinating because no way Chanyeol was jealous. He hated him back then. “No, he didn't.”

“You're just too oblivious. Honestly, now that I think about it, I'm not really surprised that he put a ring on your finger as soon as he found you again. That dude would never let you go again, Baekhyun, you're in for life.”

  
  
  
  


Chanyeol was holding a cup full of hot coffee for his fiance when he got out of the house and spotted the man he was looking for talking with another man he wasn’t really familiar with. Even though last night he had been preoccupied by the obvious things when he arrived and not have enough time knowing Baekhyun’s family, he still noticed that this guy right there wasn’t there the first time Chanyeol introduced himself last night.

Chanyeol took a seat on the nearest garden chair and put down the cup in his hold on the wooden table beside him. He flicked his gaze to Baekhyun like he was the only lit candle in the room and noticed the restless expression on him for the first time. He was still talking to the unknown man and Chanyeol realized that this man must've been really close to his fiance because the restlessness on Baekhyun's face was gone the moment the unknown man seemed like to say something while sporting a soft gaze.

Chanyeol felt his throat tighten, but he reigned it in. He wasn't about to go all caveman everytime his fiance did nothing but standing in a ten meters radius from other men. 

Instead, Chanyeol waited, with the equal restless fingers fiddling on his lap. He waited like a good dog as he watched Baekhyun wrapped up his chat with the stranger. He waited like a faithful servant for Baekhyun to find his eyes. And he waited like the moon waited for the sun as Baekhyun walked toward him. 

It was what he did best, waiting. Waiting for Baekhyun to meet him, to match him, to catch up to him. 

"Hey." Baekhyun loomed over him, smiling with the bags under his eyes still visible and Chanyeol longed to caress them better. "How's the talk?" 

"Sit here." Chanyeol tap his lap. There were no other vacant chair near them and he didn't want Baekhyun to go away from. 

Baekhyun tilted his head. "Huh, why?" 

"Because I want to hug my fiance, that's why." 

Chanyeol expected to be downright rejected or ignored. Instead, Baekhyun relented to him. It was either he was still too sleep deprived or this was just how Baekhyun acted in the morning, touch-starved. 

Chanyeol found himself took a deep, sharp breath when Baekhyun dropped himself on his lap, facing sideway. His legs dangling while Chanyeol's digged into the soft soil underneath him.

Chanyeol wanted to kiss him so much but Baekhyun hid his face on the crook of his neck, making him shiver. “What's wrong?” he asked, his voice caught. “Are you still sleepy?”

Baekhyun hummed and nuzzled his face as if he was hoping that he could bury his face further into Chanyeol's neck. “You stink so bad.”

“Well, so do you, babe. We haven’t showered, remember?” Chanyeol chuckled. “By the way, I brought you coffee.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“At this rate, you’re gonna faint before it hit midday.”

“I’m gonna kiss my mom happy birthday, take a shower, and hit the bed again.”

Chanyeol didn’t say anything since he agreed to what Baekhyun had planned for the day. He wanted his fiance to rest as much as possible this weekend before he went to hell called work on Monday.

Yanggu’s fresh breeze hit Chanyeol’s face and swept over Baekhyun’s loud hair, making it stick up all over the place more than it already had. Chanyeol couldn’t help himself when his hand moved on his own to ruffle his fiance’s hair.

“Who was the guy you were talking to earlier?” he asked.

Baekhyun didn't answer, and for a while Chanyeol thought he had fallen asleep once again. He was about to take pride of the fact that Baekhyun was comfortable enough with him to be able to sleep in his hold completely, but then Baekhyun stirred his head, still without showing Chanyeol his face.

“You didn't recognize him?”

“Huh, should I?”

“He's Kyungsoo.”

For a moment, Chanyeol's brain to dig some information buried deep in it. It didn't take long, almost everything related to Baekhyun he remembered, but this one, he'd rather never remembered it. Without him realizing, his grip on Baekhyun's waist tightened. No longer he felt the initial peace, his body taut. “Your ex? Why is he here?”

Baekhyun finally looked up to him, his eyes concerned. “He’s also my best friend. You’re not going to go on rampage, aren't you?”

“Why would I?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “It's just my guess but I figured you went all crazy kissing me back then because you were… jealous.”

“Yeah,” he cringed. “I got ugly hormones.”

“So now you blame it on hormone?”

Chanyeol's smile wobbled. He could easily say that that moment was not his proudest moment, he _hated_ how he acted back then and he would never forgive himself, even if Baekhyun would eventually forgive him in the future. Baekhyun was kind, so he would do that easily. But Chanyeol wasn't too forgiving, even to himself.

Tilting his head, Baekhyun willed him to speak. “Chanyeol?”

“I lost my goddamn mind back then.”

Baekhyun hummed. “Kyungsoo said… you liked me even from then. Is it… is it true?”

“Yeah, I did. And I acted badly about it. I panicked.”

Chuckled, Baekhyun showed him a teasing grin. “Bad? You were a _mess_ , Chanyeol.”

Damn if it wasn’t true. Now he realized just how disastrous he was. “Remember when you lost your history book?” he asked, then waiting for Baekhyun to nod. “Truthfully, I saw someone steal that book of yours. I could recognized it easily, and I snatched it from them, wanting to give it back to you because I knew you were gonna need it for a test, but I just… don't know… how to give it to you.”

“You don’t know _how_?” Baekhyun looked at him with eyes wide, like he was genuinely surprised and amused. “So you stupidly did that stunt in the cafeteria like an idiot high school boy.”

“I _was_ a high school boy, you know.” Chanyeol hesitated for a moment, glancing at the deep of his fiance’s bright eyes. “I'm really sorry.”

Baekhyun shook his head. “I already forgot about it.”

“You shouldn't. What I did was terrible.”

“Yeah, but you've changed now. I'm not an idiot, I could see it, how much you tried to get my trust. And I don’t have my head so far up my ass to not forgive you.”

Chanyeol was the taller and bigger of the two, but he could see that Baekhyun’s presence was larger than life. This moment right here, was something he had been waiting for, for God knew how long. He wanted Baekhyun in his arms, talking easily like they had been doing this for so long. Chanyeol didn’t know whether it was because Baekhyun was already comfortable with him or because they were in his house and he was feeling easy. But all in all, Chanyeol was grateful. His heart felt full.

“We should go shower before your mom’s party start,” Chanyeol started to get up, but not without releasing his tight hold. “And maybe you could introduce me properly to your ex-boyfriend.”

  


 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: it's baekhyun's turn to meet chanyeol's family and it's not going to be rainbow and cotton candy like this dundundundun


	10. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol tightened his hold on Baekhyun’s waist, pressing them even closer, while his other hand gripped the back of Baekhyun’s neck.

“So only one more hearing we could get the deal?”

“Yes, but we need to take a note that this company won’t give us huge amount of sponsor.”

“Doesn’t matter, Junmyeon. They have wide market, it’ll give boost on our name, at the very least.”

“I agree, boss. So we’re gonna proceed as usual?” Junmyeon put his pen down as he finished writing all the things he needed to do today and looked up at his boss sitting across from him.

Humming with his brows creased together, Baekhyun still tried to concentrate on the paper in his hold, trying to pinpoint if there were any flaws or errors in the proposal they were going to give to their target company. “I think this one is okay. You can send it to them,” he said as he gave Junmyeon the paper full of notes and red scratches from his pen. “I’m fucking beat.”

Junmyeon looked at him with an amused glance. “But we finished it in just five days. Usually it takes a full week and unnecessary overtimes.”

“True,” Baekhyun sighed. He finally could feel relaxed now after the endless strained on his back for the past few days.

“You seem to be on a roll after your visit to your parents’ house last week. Maybe you should go home more often?”

Baekhyun chuckled. “Yeah, no thanks. I was exhausted.”

“I figured. Must be tiring with your relatives talking your ears off over your fiancé.”

Baekhyun shot him a look. “Hey, Kim Junmyeon, you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Alright, alright.” Junmyeon raised his hands, surrendering. “Your mood is still shitty, I see.”

Scowling, Baekhyun leaned his back to his chair. “My mood is always shitty.”

“But you glow.”

“Shut up, Junmyeon.”

Right after Baekhyun threw the childish tantrum toward his longtime secretary, his phone rang, and Baekhyun had to admit it was embarrassing how fast he was grabbing the ringing device, as if he was waiting for it to ring for so long. He heard his secretary let out a chuckle, but he couldn’t care less. After all, his fiance was calling him.

He tapped the answer button. “Chanyeol?”

“Baekhyun, babe, sorry I don’t think we could have lunch together today.”

Chanyeol’s voice sounded rushed, like he was calling him while running, but Baekhyun couldn’t hear any sound other than his voice, so he must’ve been just panicking. His initial annoyance that they couldn’t have lunch today vanished and replaced by concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” he said, then he was silent for a second. By the sound of it, Chanyeol seemed to be rummaging his desk. “I’m panicking right now.”

“No shit.” Baekhyun looked up to Junmyeon packing all their documents and excusing himself, Baekhyun only gave him a nod. “What’s wrong?”

“I might forget to tell you something and you’re probably going to kill me.”

“I’m going to kill you if you don’t tell me right this second. What the hell is wrong?”

  
  
  
  


 

 

“You look amazing.”

“Shut up.”

Baekhyun tried to reign his anger, but even _he_ knew that he wasn’t that angry to his fiancé. He should’ve expected this, honestly. After all, his fiancé was sometimes an idiot and Baekhyun was left to wonder did he seriously have feelings for him or maybe it was just an illusion.

The thing was, Chanyeol forgot to mention that he wanted Baekhyun to meet his family in an event where all people from different industries gathered in one place. Baekhyun somehow remembered this deal since Chanyeol had mentioned in the passing back then when they discussed about their marriage contract.

But who would exactly remember that? It was Chanyeol’s responsibility to remind him about the event, not the other way around.

Now, two days after Chanyeol dropped the bomb to him through phonecall, Baekhyun was trapped inside Chanyeol’s car, en route to some fancy building that he was sure he never set a foot on.

Baekhyun was starting to consider jumping out of the car right at this moment. But he knew that Chanyeol would immediately catch him since he wasn’t driving. They were having a driver tonight since it was a special event, and Chanyeol was sitting on the backseat beside him. So, his plan to run away would definitely fail.

“I told you I was sorry.” Despite the darkness inside the car, Baekhyun still could tell that Chanyeol was sporting a miserable expression. Even from his tone, Baekhyun knew that his fiancé was genuinely sorry. “I was out of my head this week. You know how busy I was. And the previous week, I was too busy thinking about meeting your family.”

Baekhyun clicked his tongue before he faced the handsome man beside him. His fiancé had cleaned up really, really nice, wearing a dark navy suit with grey button up shirt that nicely hugged his frame. In short, he was handsome. Well, when did he not? But today, he was especially more handsome.

“I just can’t believe you’re bringing me to this event to meet your family for the first time. How is this fair? I brought you to my small family garden party, and you bring me to a freaking auction party?”

“Babe—“

“Don’t babe me.”

Chanyeol sighed. “Alright, _babe_ , listen. It would be nothing. You probably will only meet them for, what, five minutes at most? Besides, it wouldn’t be you who will take it hard. It’ll be me. You know how ruthless my father is toward me.”

Baekhyun bit his lip. “Did… did your father know you’re bringing me?”

“When I first told him that I have a fiancé, he immediately asked me to bring them to the party. So yes, he knew I’m bringing you.”

“Does he knew that your fiancé…” Baekhyun trailed off, somehow he got nervous. “… is me?”

It was clear from how Baekhyun worded it, let alone his tone of voice, that he was anxious. And it would be stupid to think that Chanyeol wouldn’t catch on that.

Chanyeol grabbed his hand, and it was the first time Baekhyun let the man touch him that night. “He knew,” Chanyeol said matter-of-factly, a complete opposite of Baekhyun’s unsure voice. “And Baekhyun, I assure you, you don’t need to be worried.”

“But I was…” Baekhyun gulped. His throat suddenly hurt. He was completely vulnerable and he hated it, feeling like this. “I was your servant.”

For a second, Chanyeol looked surprised. Then his eyes turned soft as he was taking a deep breath. Before Baekhyun knew, Chanyeol already scooted himself closer to him, and now he was in the arms of his fiancé. Chanyeol’s rough palm touched his cheek, when his other hand circled around his waist.

“Hey, look at me,” he started. “Since when did you care about that? You’re the son of my household’s servant, and so? You’re a person. And I—“ His words caught in his throat, and at that moment, Chanyeol looked as vulnerable as he was. “I chose you to be my fiancé.”

It was funny how a few words could calm him in an instant. His chest felt warm and his hands now shook from the urge to grab Chanyeol instead out of anxiety. Baekhyun had to swallow hard to keep his voice from breaking. “Thank you.”

From the corner of his eyes, Baekhyun saw that they were nearing their destination, and his heartbeat picked up once more. But he was soon distracted when Chanyeol bracketed his arms on either side of Baekhyun’s head, pulling him to kiss his forehead.

Baekhyun’s heart beat too fast for a different reason now.

  
  


 

 

 

Baekhyun was pretty speechless.

Now don’t get him wrong. He had his fair shares of party. After all, he was the CEO of a pretty well-known NGO company in the country, so of course, he was invited in a bunch of parties every year.

But this? This party was on a whole other level.

Baekhyun was grateful that Chanyeol was sending him new suits for this party because he realized now that every single suits he had in his closet were a huge embarrassment compared to what he and everyone wore tonight.

Looking good tonight was important because he was meeting Chanyeol’s family. Chanyeol might not have the best relationship with his family, but it didn’t mean Baekhyun didn’t want to look good. Now Baekhyun understood why Chanyeol said he wanted to leave a good impression on his family a week ago.

As soon as he stepped into the hall, he was nervous, but mostly excited, or the better word would be _curious._ He was worried yet curious to meet the bad apples of Chanyeol’s family after so long. Come to think of it, he didn’t have any reason to be nervous at all. What did he was so afraid of again?

Now that he had known what happened between Chanyeol and his family, he couldn’t help but want to see with his own eyes just how the stepfather and son interacted. And maybe, in the middle of it, Baekhyun could butt in and showed them that they just couldn’t do whatever they liked to the people Baekhyun cared about and go away with it. Baekhyun wouldn’t let it.

If anything, Chanyeol was the one who was looking tensed as hell right now. He was gripping Baekhyun’s hand rather tightly like his life depended on it. Baekhyun didn’t complain, it was understandable that Chanyeol was more nervous than he was.

“We don’t have to stay long if it’s going to upset you to be around them.” Baekhyun squeezed his hand, trying to calm his fiancé down.

When Chanyeol glanced at him, he looked distracted but tried to smile. “Yeah,” he answered shortly. “Just make sure you never leave my side.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

They stopped once in a while whenever there was someone who came up to them. Chanyeol handled them professionally, bowing and introducing Baekhyun in between. Baekhyun didn’t really expect to be introduced as fiancé tonight, but that was exactly what happened. Chanyeol introduced him with the utmost pride. His smile and gaze showed that he was proud to be able to have him as his.

This was the first time Baekhyun felt the urge to show his engagement ring to the whole room. He wanted to show that this man right here, standing strong in front of everyone despite the demon in the back of his mind crawling, was his. Park Chanyeol was his fiancé, soon to be his husband.

When they finally could excuse themselves from the CEO of one of the biggest retail chains in South Korea, Chanyeol immediately brought him to the drink area.

“I need a drink or two to go through tonight,” Chanyeol huffed out as he picked two glasses of champagne, bringing one to his lips, and one for Baekhyun.

Baekhyun could breathe for a while now as he exhaled a long pent up breath, letting the golden drink washed down his throat. “And we haven’t even met the big boss.”

Chanyeol scoffed. “Big boss? He was nothing.”

“I meant your mother. I’m more nervous meeting her than your stepdad. I’m smart in dealing with assholes, but with mothers?”

Chanyeol’s expression loosened. “You’re in for a treat. Ready to face the big boss?”

 

 

 

 

 

Baekhyun spotted them even before Chanyeol pointed at them.

Thankfully, they haven’t seen the two of them, given the fact that they stood in a crowded area with waiters passed around trays of small cakes and champagne. Baekhyun was beyond grateful that he had spare time to watch the family, monitoring them before they were given the chance to do the other way around.

Mrs. Park didn’t look like she aged even a year since the last time he saw her ten years ago. She was still as beautiful and graceful as ever. She was smiling rather politely to what happened on the stage, some band performing jazz piece. Honestly, Baekhyun couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that this woman could be together with a douchebag.

Speaking of douchebag, Baekhyun’s eyes landed on a man beside the woman, talking to the younger version of him. Mr. Minhyuk was obviously fake laughing to what Minki had said to him.

Baekhyun sneered and look away. Even before it started, he already knew that he wouldn’t be able to filter his mouth for so long tonight.

Chanyeol glanced at him. “Go all out as much as you want.”

Baekhyun smirked. Obviously his fiancé knew how much Baekhyun really wanted to play his part right now. “You bet I am.”

This was it. This was the part of their deal, make it believable to everyone’s eyes, especially Chanyeol’s stepdad, that they were real fiances, and got the CEO position for Chanyeol. Baekhyun wouldn’t let this chance slip. For whatever reason his stepdad abused Chanyeol in the past, Baekhyun would never forgive the old man. And this was how he was going to help his fiancé, the man who had shot to the top list of his most important person in Baekhyun’s life.

The beautiful woman with dark violet dress turned her head toward them and immediately beamed. “Chanyeol! Darling, I’m glad you could make it.”

For a moment, Baekhyun’s objective to give the revenge Chanyeol deserved vanished when the woman walked toward them. Mrs. Park radiated such positive energy it spread even to him.

“Hey, Mom.” Chanyeol kissed his mom’s cheek, without even loosening his hold on Baekhyun’s hand. “Mom, this is Baekhyun.”

Mrs. Park turned to him. “Baekhyun.” She quickly released her son and pulled Baekhyun into a hug. “So nice to see you again, you’ve grown so mature.”

Baekhyun chuckled. “Nice to see you too, Mrs. Park. How are you?”

“I’m fantastic.” She released him. The look she gave him almost make Baekhyun squinted because it was so bright. “I can’t believe we finally met. I gotta say that since my son told me you’re engaged I’ve been planning to ambush you without his permission.”

Chanyeol slung his arm around Baekhyun’s waist. “I told you you’ll meet him someday, Mom.”

“That’s not fair. Minhee got to meet both of you before me.”

Baekhyun raised his brows. “You knew, Mrs. Park?”

“Of course I knew, darling. Your mom called me last week and we’ve talked a lot. And I must say I envy her so much for being able to spend her time with both of you.”

Chanyeol groaned. “Mom, you know that getting their permission is the most important thing for me.”

Baekhyun’s chest warmed at the same time Mrs. Park’s eyes softened. “I knew, darling.” The woman touched her son’s cheek. “I mean, I knew they would give you their blessing, but still, I’m so happy and proud for you.” Then she looked at Baekhyun. “Thank you for giving my stupid son a chance, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun needed to blink to hide his tears. “No, Mrs. Park. I’m…” He stopped to look at Chanyeol. “I’m the one thankful that he had found me.”

It was the first time Baekhyun voicing his gratitude toward Chanyeol. Even he was surprised by the amount of truth behind his words, and Chanyeol looked like he was ready to ditch the party right there and then to bring Baekhyun back to either his house or Baekhyun’s house. Chanyeol’s expression basically said _unfair!_ And Baekhyun had to smile because he felt bad for his fiancé. But Chanyeol said he didn’t need to hold back. So he wouldn’t.

“Look who do we have here?” The moment was broken by Chanyeol’s stepdad taking position beside his wife, followed by his son and a woman who Baekhyun guessed was his fiancée. “I didn’t expect you to actually come, my son.”

Chanyeol visibly tensed beside him. The word _son_ obviously really bothered him. “Good evening, Mr. Minhyuk. How are you?” Baekhyun decided to open the talk between them.

“Byun Baekhyun,” Minhyuk nodded, his smile was indescribable. “Nice to see you again. I must say that I was surprised when I knew that you’re my son’s fiancé.”

Chanyeol’s mom giggled. “Right? I was also beyond surprised that I immediately told my husband about it the first time Chanyeol told me.”

“I was so shocked to the point I thought it was a lie.” The old man laughed. And God, Baekhyun hated it to the bones.

There was nothing that Baekhyun wanted more than to assure Chanyeol right in that second. His fiancé was trembling beside him, he could feel it. And that was when Baekhyun knew he need to step up.

“Well, to be honest, I can’t say that I wasn’t surprised too when Chanyeol proposed to me.” Baekhyun squeezed his hand, making it visible to their eyes. “But if you were in my shoes back when it happened, you would know how serious and earnest Chanyeol was. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get rid of him until I say yes.”

Chanyeol’s stepdad gave him stink eyes while his wife clung to him. “Aww, isn’t it sweet, darling? I can’t believe my son is all grown up and getting married. And oh my God, when’s the wedding?”

“It wouldn’t be so soon, Mrs. Park. We’re both really busy, so…” Baekhyun trailed off, his eyes casted on another couple. “Seems like Minki and his fiancée are more prepared than us?”

The question obviously had caught them off guard, except Mrs. Park. She was too innocent to be trapped in all of this mess of her family.

Minki and his fiancée stepped forward. “Our wedding would be in two months, and of course, you’re invited, Baekhyun. It’s nice to see you again.”

Baekhyun never interacted with Minki that much. Back then, he thought that Minki was the better brother between the two. But now, Baekhyun just couldn’t shake the fact that this man was just his father’s puppet.

“Nice to see you again, too, Minki. And…”

“Oh,” Minki pulled the woman beside him. “This is my fiancée, Jinri.”

The long-haired woman introduced as Jinri totally caught Baekhyun off guard when she approached and gave him a hug. “Nice to finally meet you, future brother-in-law.”

Blinking, Baekhyun wracked his brain for an answer, but turned out he didn’t have to because Chanyeol already pulled him back, leaving Jinri confused yet amused.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was used to greet people with hugging, maybe because I lived overseas?”

God, Baekhyun want to gag. This family, besides Chanyeol and his mom, was absolutely impossible. “It’s okay, Jinri. Nice to meet you, too.”

Baekhyun didn’t even dare to take a look at his fiancé. He was pissed for sure, and Baekhyun needed to take action before Chanyeol exploded.

“I’m sorry, Chanyeol. I wasn’t about to steal your fiancé.” Jinri giggled, then turned to Baekhyun. “You’re lucky to have Chanyeol as your fiancé, Baekhyun. He’s protective.”

Baekhyun took the chance. He glanced at Chanyeol, and he was right, Chanyeol was one second away from snapping. “Why, Jinri, you can have him, if you want.”

Chanyeol turned his attention to Baekhyun. And just like that, seeing Baekhyun teasingly smiled at him, his cold stare melted. “Babe…” he was half laughing and half whining.

Baekhyun laughed. “You see, sometimes it’s good to crush his massive ego.”

Chanyeol took the bait. “You know what else is massive?” Then Baekhyun saw Chanyeol’s family except his mom blanched. “My heart for you, of course.”

Baekhyun almost burst out laughing right there and then. “You guys see what I put up with every day?”

Mrs. Park giggled, while the others looked genuinely mortified. Granted, they didn’t expect that Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s relationship was this easy. Had they met them a month ago, their ploy would be found out immediately. Minhyuk and his son were douchebags, but not idiots. That was why they could play dirty under Mrs. Park’s nose for so long and lasted in this big industry. But now, Chanyeol and him barely acted. This was just their usual banter and jokes between them.

“I know, right?” Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun close. His posture more relaxed, but Baekhyun knew better. He was still on edge as long as his stepdad was still in sight. “How did I get so lucky?”

The atmosphere took the lighter note after that, and Baekhyun could finally breathe. Chanyeol’s stepdad family had to excuse himself, and his son and future daughter-in-law could only follow. They left not before giving the both of them a look. And Baekhyun had to force himself to hold his gaze, refusing to give in.

After kissing his mom good night on the cheek, Mrs. Park also left them. Baekhyun was never more grateful.

Chanyeol exhaled heavily. “Thank you. You saved this party being ruined by me.”

“Nah, I doubted you were gonna lose control. You’re better than that.”

“I almost lost it though. When she hugged you, I was just—“ Chanyeol heaved another sigh and his voice dropped. “If it was Minki or my father who were hugging you, I don’t even know what I’m gonna do.”

“You would still do nothing. I won’t let you lose control.”

Baekhyun waited until Chanyeol could at least set aside his initial anger and let his trembles subdue. This man right here, so strong and tough, was so afraid. Not because he was afraid of his family, but he was afraid his family would touch Baekhyun. He understood now just how much Chanyeol valued him, and he would never downplay Chanyeol’s care and action for him. His heart clenched.

So Baekhyun took the necessary decisions. He grabbed his fiance’s hand and brought them both into a more enclosed area, offering less exposure from people in the ballroom. It was small and indeed made it more cramped than Baekhyun would have preferred. But this would do, for now.

It didn’t take long for Chanyeol’s brain to catch up to what Baekhyun had been thinking all night long, days, weeks even. His eyes widened in surprise, but his expression quickly replaced by sudden uneasy grin. His arms sneaked around Baekhyun’s waist and pulled him closer.

“What is this, Byun Baekhyun?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I just want you to have space without annoyance from other people.”

“Space, huh?” Chanyeol put his head down on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “I couldn’t care less about everyone in the room when you’re so close to me like this.”

Baekhyun faked a mocking scoff. “You were about to snap a few minutes ago when Jinri hugged me.”

“Who’s Jinri again?”                     

With that Baekhyun could tell that his effort to make Chanyeol calm down had succeeded. And at that moment, he realized that this was terrifying, the hold he had over Chanyeol was terrifying. And Baekhyun had a feeling that Chanyeol knew this too.

It was terrifying and weirdly, Baekhyun was fine with it. Their relationship had changed so much and moved forward to what Baekhyun wanted to believe was the better. And he couldn’t even blame anyone but himself to want to find out just where this would be going.

“You know,” Baekhyun croaked out as his gaze landed on Chanyeol’s lips. “It’s been a month since the last time you kissed me.”

Chanyeol raised his head.

“Outside my office.” Baekhyun pressed closer, and it was embarrassing how he was beginning to feel out of breath. “Before my date night with Jongin.”

“Don’t mention other man’s name when you’re pressed against me like this.” Chanyeol’s voice turned an octave lower, his eyes locked on Baekhyun’s lips. “I was trying to be a gentleman. I wanted to gain your trust, remember?”

“You already have it.”

Chanyeol sucked in a breath as he made a small, choked noise. “Goddamn you, Byun Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun immediately shivered as his lips were covered. Chanyeol tightened his hold on Baekhyun’s waist, pressing them even closer, while his other hand gripped the back of Baekhyun’s neck. Suddenly, the kiss that started warm turned into something hot and wild that Baekhyun thought he was gonna pass out from it. Chanyeol used his knee to nudge open Baekhyun’s legs and he positioned his body comfortably there.

Baekhyun felt his head spin. He felt the solid, broad chest against him, yet the touches were gentle and fierce at the same time. Baekhyun wanted more, closer, greedier, until a moan escaped him.

Sensing his need to take a breath, Chanyeol pulled back a little bit, but his lips never leaving Baekhyun’s for long. “Baekhyun,” he whispered. Feverish. Desperate. “Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun wanted to reply. To let Chanyeol know just how much he wanted this too, just how desperate he was to have Chanyeol too. He wanted Chanyeol so, so much.

When they finally broke apart for real, panting and foreheads touching, Baekhyun still couldn’t recover his voice. He didn’t even want to hide how this kiss had made him stumbling on his feet and his vision blurring.

“I…” Chanyeol spoke up first, still sort of breathless. He pulled away to look at Baekhyun more clearly. He was giving Baekhyun _that_ look, like he was the best thing in the world. “Thank you, Baekhyun. For trusting me.”

The lull conversation in the room had finally comeback to register into Baekhyun’s ears, and the magic between them evaporated gradually, though Baekhyun was sure the remnants of heat in his body wouldn’t be gone even until he was home later.

Chanyeol gave him time to calm down with his smile wide plastered the whole time. When Baekhyun could at least breathe normally, Chanyeol gripped his hand. “Come on, there are many company CEO here. It’ll be ashamed if I didn’t get to introduce you to them.”

Baekhyun somehow got it. They had mutual understanding that at least their relationship now was no longer tied or trapped by the ghost of their past. And Chanyeol didn’t want to take it further too fast. Baekhyun was too precious for him and he didn’t want to take the wrong step. And Baekhyun would try to appreciate it.

So as Baekhyun let himself getting dragged by his fiancé from one CEO to another CEO in the room, he just smiled.

Not aware of the fact that Chanyeol’s stepdad and stepbrother were looking at them from the corner of the room.

 

 

 

 

 

After the party, it was only obvious that the news about the son of one of the biggest company in South Korea being engaged would be revealed to the media soon after.

Chanyeol welcomed the exposure, of course. After all, this was also one of their strategy so Baekhyun’s company could get more noise marketing.

So when the offer for exclusive interview for the two of them from a big media outlet came, Chanyeol accepted it. They were gonna hold the interview in Chanyeol’s office because Baekhyun insisted there was no way they did it in his small one. His fiancé was stubborn like that. He even declined Chanyeol’s offer to pick him up.

And now, all the crew and interviewer from that big media had come and prepared all of it, Baekhyun still hadn’t arrived. When Junmyeon came alone half an hour ago, saying that he and his boss took different cars, Chanyeol began to feel something was wrong.

“Have you tried his cell?” Chanyeol asked both Joohyun and Junmyeon, while his own hand was busy with his own phone. His heart started to pound.

Junmyeon was visibly panicked. “I have. Where could he possibly be? We left the office at the same time.”

“Maybe he stopped by to buy some foods for all the crews here?” Joohyun provided comfort, but by her tone, Chanyeol could tell that even she knew that her words were just mere empty speculation.

The media crews were starting to whisper among themselves, but Chanyeol didn’t care about them at all. He wanted to believe that this was just Baekhyun being stupid for not informing them that he needed to stop by somewhere, but his gut told otherwise.

They waited for another five minutes—that was how much Chanyeol could take—before Chanyeol got up from his seat to go look for his fiancé on his own.

But just when he was about to go out of his office, his phone rang. Chanyeol only took one glance on it before he answered the call. “Baekhyun?”

“Hey, Chanyeol.”

His voice sounded normal and Chanyeol was so relieved that his feet wobbled. “God, are you okay? Where are you?”

“Yeah, about that,” Baekhyun’s voice was quiet. “Sorry, I think I’m gonna be late.”

“Why are you late? Did you stop by somewhere?”

“No, I didn’t, but…” Chanyeol waited, because Baekhyun was taking his time to answer his question. “I just got into car crash. A car crashed into my car.”

  
  


 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it even my fic if Baekhyun not in danger?


	11. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byun Baekhyun, I’m fucking in love with you. And even that is an understatement.

“You what?”

Chanyeol heard Baekhyun sigh at the other end of the line. “I knew you'd freak out.”

“No shit, Baekhyun. Where are you now? Are you okay?” Chanyeol searched for Junmyeon, and his fiance's secretary quickly came to him. “Baekhyun got into accident,” he informed the man.

“He what?”

“Did you just tell Junmyeon? Shit, great.” Baekhyun groaned. It wasn’t out of irritation. He sounded like he was… in pain. “I'm okay. Just hit my head a little bit, I think. But I swear I'm fine. I'm on a taxi now. I'll be there in five.”

“What the hell? You should be on the way to the hospital, not here.”

Chanyeol's mind was reeling, while Baekhyun stayed silent.

“Fuck.” He gritted his teeth. There was something amiss with this situation but Chanyeol couldn't pinpoint it. “I'm gonna wait for you in the lobby.”

“You don't have to.”

“Shut up, Baekhyun. Just--” Chanyeol raked his fingers through his perfectly styled hair. He couldn't care less about the interview anymore. And Joohyun seemed to catch that as she excused herself to the media, informing them that the interview was unfortunately cancelled.

Good. Chanyeol didn't have time to think about such a trivial thing when his fiance was involved in a freaking accident and was on the way here.

“I've arrived,” Baekhyun said, followed by the sound of a door being opened and unfamiliar voice of a man saying _let me help you, sir._

Chanyeol started running toward the elevator. “Wait for me there.”

“Okay.” His voice was too weak, and Chanyeol didn’t like it. And with that, Baekhyun ended the phone call.

The elevator ride felt agonizingly long. Chanyeol couldn’t stop tapping his shoes while his fists couldn’t stop shaking on his side. His eyes trained to the numbers on the top of the elevator door, waiting for the letter L to light up.

Beside him, Junmyeon was clearly losing his shit too. Chanyeol knew how awful his fiance’s secretary must’ve felt right now. After all, his boss got into accident just when he wasn’t with him.

As soon as the elevator dinged and the door opened, Chanyeol with Junmyeon on his tail rushed out and immediately he spotted Baekhyun sitting on the sofa, surrounded by two of the security building and a man wearing taxi driver uniform. Strangely, his hands were grabbing his head.

Something was clearly wrong.

Chanyeol took no time to shove everyone away, getting to his fiance and crouching down in front of him.

“Hey.” He touched Baekhyun’s cheek, forcing him to look up. “Are you okay?”

He wasn’t, Chanyeol could clearly see it now. Baekhyun’s face was bordering pale and his eyes were unfocused.

“Sir, excuse me, I was the one who brought him here,” the taxi driver stepped forward. The old man actually looked concern, which meant this situation was just as bad as Chanyeol expected. “I saw the accident, and after the police came and took his statement, this young man asked me to take him here. The police and I already offered him to go to the hospital, but he refused.”

“Fucking hell, Byun Baekhyun.” Chanyeol looked at his fiance with incredulous eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“We have interview appointment,” Baekhyun uttered it like it was an obvious fact. But the way his lips gradually paled along with the beads of sweat started showing on his forehead, gave away the fact that his fiance was starting to doubt himself that this was might be bad after all.

“I’m… really fine,” Baekhyun breathed out as he slumped further, as if the gravity was so strong it pulled him down, making him unable to keep his body up any longer.

It was terrifying how things could go downhill in a spare of seconds.

One second Baekhyun was sitting in front of him, and the next his fiance already fell limp into his hands.

With his heart in his throat, brain short-circuited, Chanyeol felt his body shut down for a second as he saw Baekhyun’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, before he finally came to his sense. “Shit, fuck, somebody call the ambulance!”

It was one of his security who moved, running toward the lobby, making the emergency phonecall.

Then Junmyeon crouched beside Chanyeol. “Hold his head. Don’t let it move. He probably hit his head or neck.”

Chanyeol’s mind went blank. “Concussion?”

“Hopefully only mild concussion.” Junmyeon’s tone was quiet, but Chanyeol knew better. The secretary tried to be calm and rational in this situation, because clearly Chanyeol had lost the ability to. “Baekhyun, can you hear me?”

Then Chanyeol heard the frail sound of his fiance’s voice. “... ch… yeol…”

“I’m here,” Chanyeol rasped, his hand rubbed up and down his back, trying to ease him. “You’re okay, you’re alright. I’m here.”

His response became slower after that. “... wanna… pu...ke…”

Junmyeon nodded. “Yeah, this is definitely concussion. Can someone get a plastic bag?”

The other security rushed to the receptionist desk, and only then Chanyeol realized that there had been more people around them, trying to watch what happened. When the security came back with a plastic bag, he handed it to Junmyeon, who held it near Baekhyun’s mouth.

“Just puke if you can’t bear it, okay? Let it out,” Junmyeon said, his voice was so soothing in the midst of this tense situation. “Stay calm. Keep breathing.”

Chanyeol watched Baekhyun shudder, his shoulders heaved up and down.

Junmyeon kept going. “Try to breathe from your nose. Come on, breathe with me. In… and out…”

Chanyeol didn’t know how long it went on. What he knew was that he tried his best to hold Baekhyun’s body, supporting his neck and head carefully, while Junmyeon kept talking to Baekhyun, distracting him from passing out.

Before he knew, Chanyeol heard a set of hurried steps stumbled into the building and in a second, paramedics surrounded them. Chanyeol didn’t know what happened until he realized that Baekhyun was no longer in his arms, and he saw Junmyeon along with the taxi driver were asked by the paramedics about the basic questions.

_How long has it been since he hit his head or snap his neck? Did he lose consciousness? Did he throw up?_

Junmyeon and the taxi driver answered the questions perfectly. Good. If they asked Chanyeol, he wouldn’t be able to answer at all.

It was like he was moving in autopilot because suddenly he was inside the ambulance with Baekhyun and they moved toward where Chanyeol assumed was the hospital.

  
  
  
  


“Mr. Park, this is mineral water for you.”

Chanyeol opened his eyes just to see a water bottle right in front of his eyes. His secretary, Joohyun, handed it to him, with her eyes full of concern. Chanyeol took the bottle. His hands still shook, but at least he could take and hold the bottle well this time.

Joohyun sat next to him and fell silent. She had been accompanying him in the hallway outside the room Baekhyun was being treated for the past two hours, while Junmyeon took care of everything. Chanyeol understood a little from what Joohyun had relayed to him, that Junmyeon went to the police station to know what really happened at the accident site.

Chanyeol was so thankful. He reminded himself to thank the guy later when he at least could function normally.

“The news already spread,” Joohyun spoke beside him. “About Mr. Baekhyun’s accident.”

Chanyeol didn’t even have the strength to raise his voice. “What?”

“Remember the media in our office that supposed to do the exclusive interview. They revealed the news. _The fiance of Park Chanyeol from Parkson Corporation got into terrible accident._ That’s what they said.”

Chanyeol shook his head. “Can you take care of it, Joohyun?”

“Of course.” Joohyun was about to get up, but she stopped. “But are you okay, Mr. Park?”

“Yeah, just go.”

She got up and left, but not without patting her boss at the back.

Now that he was left alone, Chanyeol let himself sink deeper into his thought and be miserable. He almost broke when he saw Baekhyun go limp in his hands, and he hadn’t recovered from the shock. It was weird, so weird that he reacted so violently when he realized that Baekhyun’s life and his well-being was in danger. His brain was drown by the fact that he could lose Baekhyun anytime, any second, and it scared him to death.

Chanyeol knew now that Baekhyun was okay. It was only mild concussion caused by the sudden jerk of his neck and head when his car made an impact with other car. The symptoms came late, that was why Baekhyun felt fine at first before his brain slowly shutting down, leaving him feeling dazed and nauseous.

It was only mild concussion but Chanyeol already felt like he was the one feeling like dying. If Baekhyun was ever in the worse condition than that, Chanyeol could never imagine what he’d become.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Raising his head, he found a female doctor with her nurse behind her. Chanyeol immediately got up.

“Doctor,” he bowed slightly.

The doctor smiled. “You’re Mr. Byun Baekhyun’s family I supposed?”

“I’m his fiance, yes.”

“Okay. We already ran some tests, and we’re glad to inform you there is nothing wrong with the patient’s central nervous system. The CT scan and MRI also ruled out bleeding or other serious brain injury. With this, he doesn’t have to be hospitalized and can just rest at home. But, take a note that the symptoms, especially nausea and dizziness will probably linger for another twenty hours or so. Just make sure that he doesn’t move much to avoid the chance of having a second concussion. We’ll prescribe medicine so the patient could rest more comfortably. Do you have any questions?”

Chanyeol shook his head, numbly. He felt dumb for not having questions, but his brain just hadn’t caught up with anything.

The doctor nodded with her default smile still adorned her face. “Okay then, the nurse will get the medicines, and you’re free to see your fiance, Mr. Park.”

“Thank you.” Chanyeol felt himself nodded before he saw the pair of doctor and nurse left walked away down the hall.

He didn’t wait another minute to enter Baekhyun’s room. The room wasn’t big, and it didn’t look near what Chanyeol expected to be. No machine or wires. Just Baekhyun, sitting with his back leaning on the head bed, his neck and head were supported by a stack of white pillow. He looked out of place in this hospital room, Chanyeol thought.

But he looked better. So much better that Chanyeol couldn’t help but choking out a sigh of relief. “Baekhyun.”

His fiance opened his eyes, and Chanyeol could see that he was still sluggish, but he gave a lazy smile for Chanyeol nonetheless. “Hey,” he croaked out.

“Babe,” Chanyeol sauntered toward the best where Baekhyun laid. Suddenly the urge to hug him was so strong, but Chanyeol knew that Baekhyun couldn’t be moved too much. “How are you?”

Baekhyun hummed. “Weird. My head kinda hurts,” he said, his hand reached for Chanyeol’s. “I don’t feel really good.”

“That’s what happen when you don’t go to the hospital immediately after you crashed,” Chanyeol’s tone got sharper without him noticing.

Baekhyun frowned. “Well, I was feeling okay and I wasn’t hurt physically so I thought…,” he sighed. “Alright, I admit I’m an idiot.”

“Good. Cause you are.”

Smiling gradually, Baekhyun pulled Chanyeol so the latter took a seat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, forgive me.”

“You scared the hell out of me.”

“I can see. I bet my color is better than you right now. You look terrible.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“The person who crashed into me?”

Chanyeol groaned. “God, don’t even remind me of that. I can’t believe you got into a freaking car accident, and you didn’t call me.”

“It wasn’t that serious.” Baekhyun shrugged.

“And look where you are at right now.”

“It was just a mild concussion, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol shook his head. His fiance was stubborn, and while it was one of his endearing traits that Chanyeol loved about him, it frustrated him when it came out in a time like this.

“Baekhyun, please don’t say that.” Chanyeol stroked the soft of Baekhyun’s cheek. It was so delicate, so fragile, reminding Chanyeol that his fiance could break any time. “Don’t say _just_ so casually like that. It’s not just a _just_ to me, or to anyone that care about you. Seeing you hurt, in pain, the thought of you leaving me… that, I can’t handle it.”

Maybe it was the accumulated stress and fear from the whole ordeal, or maybe it was the gloomy atmosphere of the hospital, but Chanyeol was feeling so vulnerable, so afraid. He didn’t want to let go.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun started. His eyes were still a little unfocused yet they were so warm. “You know I felt bad for making you worried. I know you care for me. I mean, if someone I like got into accident too, I also will--”

“Like?” Chanyeol was flabbergasted. The edge of his lips was pulled upward followed by a dark chuckle. “You think I like you? Byun Baekhyun, I’m fucking in love with you. And even that is an understatement. If I only _like_ you, I wouldn’t react like this.”

Baekhyun blinked and Chanyeol could see tears started to pool in his eyes. “What?”

“God.” Chanyeol cupped his cheeks. “Damn you, I didn’t plan to confess in a hospital, but I love you, Baekhyun. I’ve been in love with you since ten years ago and not even one day has passed without me feeling that way. You were constantly on my mind, and not just the passing _oh I wonder how’s Byun Baekhyun doing nowadays_ , but I genuinely thought about what are you doing, are you healthy, are you happy, where do you live. You’re always with me, in my mind.”

“So understand when I acted like this, out of my head worried about you, it’s because I _fear_ to lose you again, Baekhyun. It’s a constant feeling gnawing in me every single day.”

A fresh tear rolled down Baekhyun’s cheek. Chanyeol caught it, but soon it was replaced by another one, and another one, and another one. “You…” Baekhyun sobbed. “You love…”

Baekhyun couldn’t continue his words, so Chanyeol kissed him. It was only a mere touch to his lips but Chanyeol poured out all of his feelings into that single desperate kiss.

_I love you I love you I love you._

When he pulled away, still with his hands cupping the crying man’s face, Chanyeol realized that he was also starting to cry. “Don’t cry,” he chuckled. “Come on, baby, don’t cry, you’ll hurt your head again like this.”

“I don’t even…” Baekhyun stopped to take a breath. “... know why I cry. You love me…”

Baekhyun uttered it like it was a statement, and Chanyeol smiled in relief because it meant Baekhyun get it. Baekhyun understood. He knew that Chanyeol was telling the truth.

“How could I not?” Chanyeol laughed and kissed his fiance once again, soft and sweet. “This relationship, it was never just a contract or deal for me, Baekhyun. Even from the start, I’m all in.”

Baekhyun closed his eyes, and for a few seconds, he looked like he was going to sob. But then he opened his eyes, they were bloodshot and exhausted, yet still the most beautiful depth Chanyeol had ever had the opportunity to be drawn in. “Thank you, Chanyeol. I’m… I want you to know--”

“Hey,” Chanyeol shushed him, shaking his head. “You don’t have to say it back. I was stupid enough for blubbering it out in this situation. But you don’t have to force yourself to catch up to me.”

Baekhyun only looked at him, probably trying to process his words. His nose looked so red it almost looked cute when he finally nodded.

  
  
  
  


Since Baekhyun needed to be watched for at least the next twenty four hours, Chanyeol insisted to have him stay over at his place for the night. After the exhausting day, both physically and mentally, they got ready for bed in silent. It was awkward, but Chanyeol had to admit it was a welcomed one.

This wouldn’t be the first time they slept together in one bed. There was that time when they stayed at Baekhyun’s parents house. But this was the first time they did it after Chanyeol confessed his undying love for his fiance. And he knew the awkwardness was a given.

However, they were too tired. Baekhyun was too out of it, and Chanyeol was too affectionate so they found themselves in each other’s arms pretty easily and naturally.

Before he knew it, Baekhyun already curled up to him after he took his medicine. Chanyeol prepared a basin by his bed just in case Baekhyun wanted to throw up because of his nausea.

“Wake me up if you feel sick, okay?”

His eyes already closed, but Baekhyun still nodded. His nose was buried in Chanyeol’s chest and his hand clutched onto his waist. “Tomorrow...” he mumbled. “... we’ll talk again.”

“Okay.”

“But I think....” Baekhyun’s grip on him tightened. “... I want to be all in, too.”

His words were slurred, but Chanyeol caught the fondness in them. They made his heart hurt because it felt so much. “Okay, Baekhyun,” he answered. “Thank you.”

  
  
  
  


The alarm sound hit his ears like a goddamn train just passed right beside him. Chanyeol jolted awake and cursed loudly as he felt the room spinning by the sudden movement of his and the bright light of morning sun. He heard Baekhyun groan, still in his hold, and that was the second surprise of the day.

He totally forgot about Baekhyun.

“Shit,” Chanyeol shook the sleepiness in him. “Babe, I’m sorry. Are you okay? Is your head hurt?”

Baekhyun didn’t answer, and Chanyeol almost thought that there was something wrong before he heard the faintest mumble from his fiance. “‘m fine. Turn off the alarm, please.”

Only then Chanyeol realized his surrounding again. The sun was obviously already up high in the sky, and he realized that it wasn’t the sound of his alarm, but his ring tone. He picked up his phone and the screen showed unknown number. He was adamant to answer it at first, but thought the better of it since it was probably important.

Speaking of important, he needed to talk to Junmyeon about what he had found yesterday.

“Hello?” he answered the phone.

“Oh, great, you finally picked up, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol frown. “I’m sorry, who… wait, is this Mrs. Byun?”

“Yes, sweetheart. Oh my God, finally I could reach one of you. I was so worried.”

Fuck, he had done it, hadn’t he? What kind of son-in-law was he for not contacting the parents of his spouse when something bad like this happened?

“Ma’am, I’m so, so sorry. I have no excuse, but yesterday was so--”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, darling. I saw the news, but I already knew he was okay from his secretary. But I just really wanted to know how the two of you doing.”

Chanyeol’s heart clenched when he heard that Mrs. Byun wasn’t only worried about her son, but also him. A mere nobody. “Baekhyun is fine, Ma’am. It was mild concussion.”

“And you? It must’ve been difficult for you too.”

Chanyeol laughed nervously. “I was a little rattled, but I’m fine now. We’re okay.”

“Alright,” the woman released a pent-up breath. “I’m glad, then. Please call your mom too, Chanyeol. She’s so worried.”

“Yes, of course.”

“And thank you for making sure he was safe, sweetheart. Thank you so much.”

That almost done it. His throat hurt from holding himself from crying. The phonecall was ended before Chanyeol could reply her. When he looked to his side, Baekhyun was already awake, albeit still laying down on his back.

“Is that my mom?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol laid his head on his fiance’s chest. “How are you?”

Baekhyun was playing with his hair when he answered. “I told you I’m fine.”

“I just realized something,” Chanyeol mumbled. “If something happened to you, everyone would come to me asking about you. And I’m sure it was also the other way around.”

“What’s your point?”

“I just realized that we _are_ a couple.”

“You sound awed.”

“Of course I am.” Chanyeol rolled so he could face his fiance. Baekhyun looked so soft in the morning, Chanyeol would never get tired of it. “Good morning.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Do you remember what I said last night?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to try, Chanyeol. I’m all in, too.”

Yesterday, Baekhyun was a mess. This morning it was Chanyeol’s turn. There was nothing that Chanyeol wanted more than hearing that sentence out of Baekhyun’s mouth. He hugged Baekhyun’s torso and buried his face on his fiance’s shirt, letting his tears flowed freely.

They stayed like that for the longest time. By the time Chanyeol finally raised his head while still sniffling, Baekhyun laughed at him, but he was looking at him with a stare that made Chanyeol feel ridiculously special.

Chanyeol wanted to stay in bed, hugging and cuddling with his fiance, ignoring the rest of the world. But he knew he needed to go, especially when Junmyeon’s call broke the comfortable in the room.

Baekhyun was confused as to why his secretary was calling him. But in the end he let Chanyeol go to the other room to answer the call.

“Hello? Junmyeon, how is it?”

“Mr. Park, I think we need to meet. I found something strange.”

 

 

 

 


	12. The Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "As crazy as it sounds, you had me from day one. I was just too chicken-shit to admit it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late update, but this week had been cRAZY at work, so...

“What did you just say?” Chanyeol’s heartbeat quickened. Junmyeon’s words just tilted his perfect morning upside-down. “What do you mean strange?”

“Exactly what I meant,” Junmyeon whispered through the phone. “I’m at the police station now. Since yesterday, they’ve been really uncooperative, but this morning they were more lenient.”

“So, are you saying that Baekhyun’s accident is…”

“The testimony from Baekhyun is kinda unclear since he was probably still in shock and distraught. According to him, suddenly there’s just a car coming from his right when he resumed driving after stopping for traffic light. The police ruled out the accident as careless driving from the other’s driver part. But then, after further investigation, the CCTV showed the car had been waiting in that intersection for more than an hour, and suddenly fleed so fast toward Baekhyun’s car as soon as Baekhyun started to drive and crossed the intersection.”

Chanyeol bolted off the sofa and paced the living room in his apartment, trying to not make a loud sound as he didn’t want Baekhyun to realize that something was happening. Pacing wasn’t Chanyeol’s thing, it was Baekhyun’s. But now he needed this, he just couldn’t hold still.

What Junmyeon said was indeed strange, and Chanyeol’s head was going places he hated to admit, but at the same time, it was the only logical explanation.

“What’s the police gonna do?” Chanyeol asked, his tone gravely low.

“They’re having interrogation now. I just want to let you know, in case you want to come.”

“I’m coming,” Chanyeol said without doubt. Someone out there were potentially harming his fiance, and he wasn’t going to just sit still.

The problem was what was he going to tell Baekhyun? Would he tell the truth that his accident that made him get admitted to a hospital was actually not an accident? Would he tell that somehow, someone out there was targeting him? And if the one who did this was indeed the person Chanyeol suspected, wouldn't Baekhyun felt unsafe with him and left him?

Baekhyun had told him about his full intention to try making this relationship work. And what if now that he was in danger he would back off?

Chanyeol made sure that he got the station's address from Junmyeon before he cut off the line. He knew he need to go back to his room because Baekhyun would become suspicious if he was gone too long, but he still didn't know what to say.

When he went back to his room, Baekhyun was still lying on his back, with his posture rigid. It seemed like he was still afraid to move around even though his condition already got much better.

“What is it?” Baekhyun got up into sitting position. His hair was sticking to all directions.

Chanyeol sat beside him. His hands automatically reached for his fiance's cheeks. “Your secretary updated me about your accident.”

“Oh, you mean like insurance matter?”

“No, the accident.” Chanyeol could never lie at Baekhyun. “The police noticed something unusual.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun tilted his head, his eyes rounded confusedly. “What do you mean?”

“Listen,” Chanyeol sighed. Just why, why this had to happen. “It wasn't an accident. Someone was intentionally crash into you.”

Saying it out loud only made Chanyeol's blood boil just like before. And it added by the way Baekhyun's expression morphed from being confused to surprised before the slight fear overtake it. Chanyeol wanted to kill whoever behind this, and he had a feeling he knew who it was.

“Wha--Did you just say that someone actually--but--”

“Ssshhh… Baby, calm down.” Chanyeol wrapped Baekhyun's face with his hands. “I hate to do this but I have to go now to the police station. I'm going to call my mom so she could accompany you.”

“What the fuck,” Baekhyun breathed out. His eyes started to shake. “Chanyeol, I want to come too. You can't just leave me here.”

“Baekhyun, you don't have to be afraid--”

“I'm going to punch that son of a bitch when I meet him. That fuck looked innocent saying sorry to me yesterday. And now you say he did it intentionally? Like hell I'm just going to stay here. And it's not like I'm gonna let you near that asshole alone. Who knows what he’s gonna do to you.”

Chanyeol didn't know what surprised him more, that his fiance was just as fearless as ever, or the fact that he still wanted to stay by Chanyeol's side. Chanyeol blinked, and it just came out of his mouth. “God, I love you.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun's murderous eyes actually turned soft right in front of him. His blush looked more prominent by the seconds. “I-- Chanyeol, this is not the time!”

Chanyeol leaned forward and planted a kiss on his fiance's lips. It was weird how this felt so natural, like it was a second nature for him, yet his stomach still fluttered like crazy.

When he pulled away, he chuckled at Baekhyun's astonished face. It was like he was completely knocked out of breath yet still tried to look pissed because his earlier demand was just brushed off by Chanyeol.

“I-I told you this is not the time--”

“This is not the time, but I'm still gonna kiss you anyway.” There was nothing in this world could stop him from kissing Baekhyun. He was deprived of ten years worth of kisses. “Now listen, I would love to have you come with me, but you're still unwell. You just got into accident for God's sake. So please do me a favor, stay here. I'll handle this with Junmyeon, for now. As soon as you get better, you can do whatever you want as long as you're safe. How about that?”

Baekhyun bit his tongue, looking like he was about to blurt out a million buts and reasons so he could go. But Chanyeol's fiance was smart, he knew if he went along, he would be no help and just be a hindrance. So he nodded. “Okay.” He relented. “But if you find something, you have to tell me. No hiding it in the name of protecting me or other kind of bullshit.”

Of course Baekhyun would say that, and Chanyeol was stupid for even have the thought crossing his mind that his fiance needed his protection and would leave him if he knew about the truth. This was the man Chanyeol had fallen in love with after all.

“Okay,” Chanyeol replied, smiling softly. He pushed the bangs away from Baekhyun's forehead so he could kiss him. “I promise.”

Baekhyun nodded, and his expression grew solemn. “Is it… is it who I think it is?”

Chanyeol already planned to destroy whoever trying to harm Baekhyun, but now that this situation also made his fiance wearing a solemn look, Chanyeol would make sure that the people behind this would suffer through hell.

“I still don't know.” Chanyeol pulled Baekhyun into a hug, holding the back of his head with gentle hand. “But whoever they are, I'll make sure they'll regret it.”

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

Fiddling his fingers, Baekhyun sat on the bar stool in Chanyeol's kitchen island. He had the large apartment all to himself this afternoon and he really had no idea what to do. Chanyeol had left as soon as Baekhyun finished showering. He didn't want to leave while Baekhyun was alone in the shower, he said.

Baekhyun was feeling pretty good today though. His head no longer felt weird and his stomach didn't push him to throw up every damn minute. 

He was fine to be left alone, really, but Chanyeol was also being annoyingly stubborn about not wanting Baekhyun to be alone in his current condition. So his fiance thought that asking his mom to come to accompany him would be a great idea.

_ “You could do son and mother-in-law bonding too. Isn't it great?” _

Chanyeol might as well be the love of Baekhyun's life, but it didn't mean that he didn’t have massive urge to punch his fiance when he teased him earlier. The only redeeming thing about this situation was the fact that Baekhyun knew Chanyeol already had his alone-moment with his mother back on his mother’s birthday party weeks ago. And he hated to admit that maybe this was indeed his turn to have his bonding time.

He was nervous. His hands turned cold and he had lost count of how many time he had glanced up to check time on the clock in the living room, waiting for his future mother-in-law to arrive.

Baekhyun looked down at how he dressed. He was wearing Chanyeol’s shirt obviously, since he had no clothes here. So he knew he at least looked somehow presentable. So one thing on his list of things to be worried about could be scratched off.

He hated how nervous he was because now he couldn’t go snooping around his fiance’s apartment. This was the first time he had visit Chanyeol’s private home after all. He thought that he would have time, but turned out Mrs. Park would come in ten minutes--no, it was in seven minutes now.

Can’t keep his nerves down, Baekhyun decided to get off the stool and moved to the living room so he could be near the front door. As he sat on the couch, Baekhyun prayed that he wouldn’t say something weird later. This was  _ the _ Mrs. Park after all. He liked the woman, and he wanted to give a nice impression, although Chanyeol had assured him that his mom thought highly of him already. Well, if any of their interaction at Chanyeol’s company party the other day was anything to go by, maybe Baekhyun really didn’t need to be nervous. But who could blame him? This was the mother of a man he would marry. One of very few people that Chanyeol really cared about.

Baekhyun started when he heard the doorbell. His heart drummed in his chest until the only sound he could register was his own heartbeat. He had no time to be nervous now. He could only gulped then got up from the couch, making a beeline toward the door.

“Coming,” he yelled, hoping that he didn’t make the woman waited to long.

When he opened the door, the familiar, petite woman was looking at him with a worried gaze. “Oh thank God,” she unclasped her hands before went to hug Baekhyun. “You took your sweet time opening the door, I was afraid you fainted inside.”

And just like that, Baekhyun nervousness evaporated. He chuckled before hugging back his future mother-in-law. “Thank you for coming, Mrs. Park. But really,” he pulled away. “I’m fine now, you don’t have to worry.”

The woman hit his chest lightly. “Of course I’d worry. You’re my son now, Byun Baekhyun. If anything happened to you, I’d be worried to death.”

Warm seeped into his chest. This woman was truly the one who had birthed the most amazing man Baekhyun had ever known. “I’m sorry I worried you, Mrs. Park. But I do think that Chanyeol was exaggerating when he told you about my condition. It wasn’t that bad. Anyway, please come in.”

“Oh please,” Chanyeol’s mom went pass Baekhyun, entering her son’s house. “Don’t you think I didn’t see the news. You were brought into hospital.”

Baekhyun bit his lip to hide his apologetic smile as he led the woman to the living room. As soon as she sat down, Baekhyun took care of the things she brought. A bunch of fruits and some food with the label “organic” in its package. “But I could immediately go home after that. So it means I was fine, Mrs. Park,” Baekhyun still tried to argue.

“Oh my God, you’re the exact replica of my son. So stubborn.”

Baekhyun laughed. From the kitchen, he could here the woman also laughed with him. Who was it again who thought that this bonding time could go wrong?

“But seriously…” The petite woman came to the kitchen. “I was really worried when I got the news. My husband too.”

Baekhyun flinched at that. “Oh,” he laughed nervously. “Mr. Minhyuk knew about it?”

“Of course he knew. He was the one who told me.”

He couldn’t say anything to that. After all, he had his suspicion about his accident related to that man. “It was nice of him to keep track about me.” Baekhyun forced himself to smile.

Luckily, Mrs. Park wasn’t looking at him. She was busy unpacking her groceries, seemingly started to prepare food for the both of them. “He cares about you, sweetheart. You’re part of this family now.”

Baekhyun’s mind wandered. If his suspicion was turned out true, that Chanyeol’s stepdad was trying to harm him, he guessed that the cruel man wouldn’t stop at this. From Chanyeol’s story, it was obvious the man was willing to do everything in his power to not have his position to be snatched away by Chanyeol. So he tried to get rid of Baekhyun first. Now that he failed, who knew what he would do next?

Baekhyun wasn’t afraid for himself. Hell no. He was scared that the man’s target would change to Chanyeol.

He didn’t know when did this started, but the thought of something happened to Chanyeol was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

“Mr. Minhyuk seems like a nice man,” Baekhyun managed to respond.

“He is.” Mrs. Park smiled. There was no a single trace of doubt, or sadness, or hatred in her eyes. Which meant she really meant what she said, and Baekhyun couldn’t help but baffled. “My husband is really nice even from the start. Honestly, I don’t think I could survive the grief of losing my late-husband if Minhyuk wasn’t there with me. He held me and the company strong.” She sighed. “Which is why I’m so confused why Chanyeol seems to hate him so much. He never gets along with Minhyuk.”

_ Maybe because he abused him! _ Baekhyun wanted to say, but decided to just seal his lips. “Chanyeol had his own reasons,” he opted out to say.

Mrs. Park’s brows raised. “What do you mean by that, darling?”

Baekhyun clamped his mouth. Shit, did he cross the line?

He knew that Mrs. Park was a wonderful mother. She was a kind-hearted woman who just wanted the best for people around her. But then, that kind of kindness sometimes could blind people into thinking that everything was fine, that there wasn’t any grey zone in this world. 

Chanyeol had suffered so much, even until now. Almost every aspect of his life was ruined, including his relationship with Baekhyun, because he grew up in a such toxic environment that made him believe that he couldn’t trust anyone and didn’t have the ability to love someone.

But he did.

He trusted Baekhyun. And he loved Baekhyun.

And Chanyeol just deserved so much more, and maybe Baekhyun was tired to just stay silent.

“Mrs. Park,” Baekhyun’s hands turned to fists. “This is not my place to say, so it’s best that you talk to your son. But please know,” he stopped, making sure that his lover’s mother truly understand this. “Please know that everything isn’t as perfect as it seems.”

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

 

Mrs. Park pushed him to tell her what he meant about what he said, but Baekhyun refused, until finally the woman gave up and they decided to leave the matter behind and enjoyed their time together. Baekhyun was glad that they could do everything normally after that, without being tensed or awkward. Mrs. Park was a smart woman, so he knew he didn’t have to be worried. He was sure the mother would talk to her son or her husband at some point in the future.

Spending time with Mrs. Park wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. The woman was pretty much the same like his own mother. No wonder they got along really well.

They spend the whole day mostly talking, with TV’s sound in the background constantly. They talked about Baekhyun’s life after he went away ten years ago. They talked about how he and Chanyeol got into their current relationship now, although Baekhyun needed to omit some facts. They talked about the wedding which was still totally unplanned, and that just made Baekhyun think.

This hadn’t crossed his mind before because of the chaos around them these past two days. But he realized that their initial relationship was full of pretenses and obligations based on written contract. And now that he knew that Chanyeol’s feeling for him was real, that he was also willing to give his all to this relationship, where did this leave them?

This wasn’t a relationship based on contract anymore. And if they continued, it wouldn’t feel right, because now Baekhyun no longer took part in this relationship for merit. To hell about Chanyeol’s company being his sponsor or he could become the stakeholder in Chanyeol’s company. Those kind of things, Baekhyun could get it with his own effort if he tried harder. But Chanyeol…

Chanyeol was the only one in this world, and Baekhyun would kill himself if his relationship with the man he  _ loved _ was based on contract.

The man he loved…

Baekhyun’s in love with Chanyeol.

The realization didn’t hit him hard like a freaking bullet like it was often described in work of fictions. There he was, in the middle of his partner’s living room, accompanied by his partner’s mom, Baekhyun realized that he was in love with man he once hated.

“Baekhyun, my dear?”

Baekhyun was pulled out from his thought when he heard his name was called by the woman beside him. He blinked at her a few times before he found his voice. “Yes, Ma’am?”

Mrs. Park smiled. “Your phone’s ringing.”

Only then Baekhyun realized that his phone on the glass table in front of him had been ringing this whole time. He gave out an embarrassed laugh as he picked up his phone.

“Hello?”

“Babe, hey.”

Hearing Chanyeol’s voice after  _ the  _ realization about his feelings weirdly made him blush like a high school girl in love. “Hey,” he only managed one word.

“So I just finished here. How have you been? Are you okay?”

Yeah, how the hell Baekhyun could not fall in love with this man? Baekhyun’s well being was always his number one priority in his list. “I’m okay. Are you coming home? How’s the investigation?”

“Nothing significant. I’ll tell you the details later. But now I just don’t feel like it’s safe for you to be alone. Would you stay with me for a few days?”

Honestly, Baekhyun would love to stay with him forever. “Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“Great. Then I’m going to your house now. I’ll pick up some of your clothes and other important things.”

“Alright. I’ll wait for you here.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I--” Baekhyun stopped. He wanted to reply to it so much, but knew that this wasn’t supposed to be said the first time through phone. “Take care, Chanyeol.”

“Of course. See you later.”

With that, the line was cut off and Baekhyun was back to reality.

Mrs. Park was looking at him with a knowing look. “You’re only separated with him for merely hours, and you already miss him?”

Baekhyun gaped. How did… “Is it that obvious?”

Mrs. Park giggled, then got up from the seat. Baekhyun followed. “You eyes couldn’t lie, sweetheart. You look like you couldn’t wait until he come home, even for one more hour or so.”

Baekhyun should feel embarrassed, that his feelings was bared open like this. But he was too far gone to care. He just wanted to see Chanyeol  _ soon. _ “I miss him.”

Mrs. Park put her hand on his shoulder. Her teasing and knowing look was replaced by eyes dripping with fondness. “Then go see him. I think you’re well enough to go out. Just be careful? I think my duty here is also done. I’m going home. There’s something I need to do anyway.”

It was like his heart could breathe again. The prospect of meeting Chanyeol was enough to make him felt this excited? Good God, he couldn’t let Chanyeol knew about this. “Thank you, Mrs. Park.”

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

Chanyeol gripped the steering wheel with great intensity as he picked up his speed as soon as he left the police station. He was irritated by the fact that the day had gone by without result.

The investigation was dropped and the case was closed by the police as the criminal was announced innocent by them. They said the person didn’t plan to wait at the intersection. He was just  _ there _ .

Just how the hell he was just  _ there _ , Chanyeol would never understand and he was ready to push. But the police was uncooperative and Chanyeol along with Junmyeon had run out of ideas to force the police to keep investigating.

For now, Chanyeol would come home, back to Baekhyun, and planned how to deal with this all over again. Because there was no way he would let this just slip away. No one could fuck with the one he loved and just get away with it.

Chanyeol knew that the testimony from the guy was bullshit. He was sure that his stepdad was behind all of this. He just needed to find out how to find the evidence.

That could wait until tomorrow. Now he was pooped and just wanted to go back to his fiancé. Hug him and maybe kiss him, and sleep with him.

That was why he was rushing to Baekhyun’s apartment now. He would take Baekhyun’s things as many as he could. Until this problem settled, there was no way Chanyeol would let Baekhyun to be alone again.

The thought of really living with his fiancé still hadn’t sunk in. And Chanyeol would like to keep it that way, because he felt like he would freak out if he began to think about the weight of it. Living together with your significant other wasn’t an easy matter, after all.

So for now, he put the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

It didn’t take long, before his phone rang. But it didn’t ring because someone was calling or messaging him.

It was an alarm.

That was connected to the alarm device in Baekhyun’s apartment.

Chanyeol’s blood ran cold, and he immediately pulled away from the road, not caring if it was dangerous. He stopped his car and quickly grabbed his phone. He cradled it with horror in eyes.

He wasn’t wrong. The distinctive red alarm symbol on his phone screen as well as the loud sound blaring from his phone were the clear indication that it was notification from the alarm he set up in Baekhyun's apartment.

Someone was trying to break in.

Chanyeol quickly turned off the alarm and pulled up the police number. He called for an emergency and was replied by confirmation that they would go there immediately.

After that, he called Baekhyun. But the call was connected to voicemail.

By this point, Chanyeol was hyperventilating.

He called his mom, and it was connected. “Mom? Is Baekhyun with you?”

“Whoa, whoa, darling, slow down. What happened?”

“Please tell me you’re still with Baekhyun in my house,” he yelled, and he was sure his mom wouldn’t like it.

“Wha—No, I’m already on the way home because Baekhyun left to see you. He said he’s going to his house.”

“What? Mom, I specifically told you to not leave—Fuck, shit, I’ll call you later.”

“Chan—“

Chanyeol cut the line short. He would apologize to his mom later. Now he needed to go.

Just why the fuck Baekhyun had to go see him. God, Chanyeol wanted to strangle him for being an idiot. He was in grave danger only yesterday and now he just got into another one.

Chanyeol started to drive the car again, trying so hard to stay calm as to not crash into other cars.

He tried to think rationally. Chances were Baekhyun still hadn’t arrived in his house since Chanyeol only called him fifteen minutes ago, and at that time he was still in his apartment with his mom. And Baekhyun’s phone was also connected to the alarm, so he must’ve received the notification too and he would avoid his house at all cost.

But when Chanyeol called him earlier, his phone was off, so…

Chanyeol shook his head. He was being paranoid and panicked out of his mind, but it would be okay. Baekhyun was fine, he was sure. Chanyeol just needed to get there safe and fast.

It was ten minutes later that he was finally nearing Baekhyun’s apartment and his body was drenched with cold sweat. His body was shaking and he barely could hold himself together anymore. But he arrived, finally. And he could see the blue and red light coming from a couple of police cars who were faster than him to come there.

He wanted to let out a relieved sigh, but couldn’t. Not before he could see Baekhyun safe and sound.

He parked his car, and in a lightning speed, got out of his car and ran toward the commotion.

There were many people gathered. The police, some pedestrians who heard the commotion, and the apartment’s official.

Chanyeol’s head whipped around to all directions. His lips were calling Baekhyun’s name, his eyes were swimming across all people, trying to spot him. But Chanyeol couldn’t.

He couldn’t find Baekhyun.

He stumbled toward the police as he pulled out his phone once again. Maybe this time Baekhyun would pick up. He  _ had  _ to pick up. Or else Chanyeol would go crazy.

He was about to dial Baekhyun’s number once again when he heard it.

“Chanyeol!”

He turned around so fast he got a whiplash, but not as fast as he spotted his fiancé. Chanyeol would find Baekhyun anywhere.

“Baekhyun,” he croaked out, his throat burn. He just realized he had been suppressing the urge to cry this whole time.

The strength in his body evaporated as he ran toward his fiancé, and he met him in the middle. As soon as Baekhyun was in his arms, hugging his neck tightly, Chanyeol could finally breathe.

“Christ,” Chanyeol breathed out. “Thank fuck.”

Baekhyun was trembling in his arms. “God, I was so scared. I was on my way here and my phone rang. It was the alarm you put on my apartment. I was afraid that you were already there and there was someone who would harm you. And my battery died, and I couldn’t call you. Fuck you, I was so worried.”

Chanyeol tightened his arms around Baekhyun, his head was buried in his fiance’s neck. He needed Baekhyun as close to him as possible. “I told you to not leave the house. What the fuck, Baekhyun.” He pulled away and cradled Baekhyun’s face with his hands. His fiancé was crying. “I’m mad at you right now, but I’m so relieved. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

Chanyeol must’ve been dreaming right now. There was no way that sentence just came out Baekhyun’s mouth. “What?”

Baekhyun took a step closer so he was even more pressed to Chanyeol now. “This is so lame because you confessed to me in a hospital, and now I confessed to you in the middle of police’s light. But Park Chanyeol, I’m in love with you. Without me realizing, you were the source of my strength for the past ten years. You were my drive to be better. I thought at first maybe it was for the wrong reasons, for proving to you that I could be in the same level as you. But in the end, you’re my strength all the same.”

“Now you came back to my life, and you made my days impossibly brighter and my heart so light and heavy at the same time with my love and trust for you. You hurt me, then you mend me, then you made me  _ believe _ . As crazy as it sounds, you had me from day one. I was just too chicken-shit to admit it. This accident just made me realize how afraid I was to lose you. I never want that.”

Chanyeol must’ve cried, because he felt his cheeks wet. Inside of his chest, his heart thundered like a runaway train. He couldn’t find his voice at all, and all he wanted to do was to reply that he loved Baekhyun too. So much.

“God, look at you,” Baekhyun chuckled, tears still streaming down his face. But he was unbearably beautiful. “You’re a mess.”

The first sob came out violent, and Chanyeol couldn’t take it anymore. He cried into Baekhyun’s shoulder and held him tightly as his fiancé rubbed a soothing circle on his back.

He poured it all out. His relieved, his misery, but mostly his love for this man for the past ten years.

Baekhyun loved him back.  _ God,  _ Baekhyun loved  _ him _ back.

He cried, and cried, and cried, until he lost time of how long they stood there.

Everyone was probably looking at them funny. Two grown-up men crying together in middle of the night. But Chanyeol couldn't care less. This was the moment he had been waited  _ for life.  _ He would savor the hell out of it as much as he could.

“Hey, babe, I love you but,” Baekhyun patted his back, his voice soft. “We need to talk to the police who the hell was trying to break into my goddamn apartment.”

Chanyeol was half crying half laughing now. He was sure his face was a mess but he didn’t care. He pulled away to face his fiance’s adoring gaze at him. “Way to ruin the mood.”

“What mood? You’re just crying like a baby.”

“Fuck me, I hate you and love you so much.”

“Likewise.” Baekhyun grinned at him. His face was tear-stained but the trace of sadness wasn’t seen anymore. “Let’s go.”

Baekhyun grabbed his hand and led him to the police who was waiting for them by the main door of the apartment building. As soon as they were in front of them, Chanyeol quickly took charge, after he wiped all his tears, of course.

“Good evening,” he greeted. “I’m Park Chanyeol, the one who called for emergency earlier. This is Byun Baekhyun, my fiancé. He’s the owner of the apartment.”

“Mr. Park, Mr. Byun,” one of the police nodded at them. “We had come up to your room earlier, checking it if there was indeed anything suspicious. We arrived with the building’s security and we found nothing wrong, sir. The front door is in perfect condition, there was no sign of force. With the permission from the manager, we have entered the room and checked inside. And we don’t think there was anything out of place.”

“The alarm was designed to ring if there was any even little fraction of force. Are you sure that there was nothing there?” Chanyeol asked.

“Yes, we’re sure, sir. But we suggest that we go up together again now, just to make sure. Also so you could spot something different that we don’t notice, since you’re the one who’s familiar with your own house.”

“Yeah, sure,” Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun, and his fiancé only nodded. Then they followed the police to Baekhyun’s room.

Chanyeol kept being beside Baekhyun the whole time they were going to his room. Chanyeol wanted revel over the fact that the love of his life just told him that he loved him back, but he didn’t get the pleasure to do it for now.

His mind running over the possible scenario of what happened here. Was it really just a fluke of the alarm? Did someone actually try to enter the apartment? Was it his stepdad’s doing? It could be anything.

When they arrived, Chanyeol could see that the police didn’t lie. There wasn’t a single sign of forced entry. They opened the door and the light inside was out, just like Baekhyun left it.

“You can come inside, sir. We already checked, and there was no one or anything dangerous inside,” the police explained.

Baekhyun stayed silent beside him, biting his lip, and Chanyeol just knew.

“Hey,” Chanyeol caressed his fiance’s cheek. “Do you want me to check it?”

“Will you be okay?” Baekhyun looked up at him with eyes so vulnerable. This had happened two days in a row, and Chanyeol had enough.

“Of course. Just wait here, okay? I’ll do your usual routine.”

“ _ Please _ be careful?”

“Don’t worry about me, love.” Chanyeol kissed his forehead, and with that he headed inside.

Chanyeol turned on the light and did what he usually do. With his senses on high alert, he checked every corner in every room. He also made sure if there was any of Baekhyun things that probably got moved or missing. But he found nothing strange. So, what the hell did this mean?

He got out and Baekhyun visibly let out a sigh of relieved. Chanyeol came to him and hugged him. He hated that he could feel his fiancé was trembling all over.

“It’s safe, nothing strange. Do you want to come inside to check?” he asked in Baekhyun’s ears.

Baekhyun shook his head. “I trust you. I just want to go, please.”

Chanyeol cursed under his breath. He wanted to push the investigation, but Baekhyun was visibly terrified now. Baekhyun was his priority, and right now his priority was to tuck him inside the safety of his home.

“Thank you, officer.” Chanyeol finally spoke to the police. “I think we’ve made sure that everything is fine. We really thank you for your fast response and assist.”

They exchanged some words about contacting them if there was anything weird again before they parted, and Chanyeol and Baekhyun were left alone. After that, Chanyeol did what he needed to do. He left Baekhyun by the entrance door of his own home while he did what he originally wanted to do by coming here. He packed everything that Baekhyun needed for a whole week. Clothes, his work documents, toiletries, and other things that Baekhyun instructed him to pack from where he stood.

Chanyeol packed everything with his heart heavy. Baekhyun had refused to go inside because he was too scared. Even though there was nothing wrong, it still broke Baekhyun one way or another. This incident evidently had hurt Baekhyun more than an actual car crash accident.

Chanyeol closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Shit just got out of hands. This might be a fluke, but Chanyeol refused to believe. Incidents for two days in a row targeted to his fiancé couldn’t be just a fluke. This was deliberated. Whether it was really to harm Baekhyun or just warnings, Chanyeol wasn’t sure. But just like he had promised, no one fuck around with his beloved persons.

When everything was done, Baekhyun looked like he was ready to bolt out of here. So Chanyeol took his hand and they left together.

The journey to Chanyeol’s car was spent in silence, even when Chanyeol started to drive away from Baekhyun’s apartment building.

“Baekhyun.” Chanyeol tried to get his attention. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just… you know,” he answered while his eyes kept staring right ahead. He was quiet for a while before he turned to Chanyeol. “I think we need to talk, Chanyeol. About our marriage contract.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last not-so cliffhanger, as next chapter is the last chapter :"


	13. The Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Chanyeol loved him and loved him and loved him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the late update but HEY IT'S HERE! Please enjoy the last chapter of Broken Moon <3  
> Warning: Smut~

Chanyeol had always been fearless. Only a few things actually scared him, and all of them involved either his mom or Baekhyun. In conclusion, it only mattered when it came to the people he actually cared about. And nowadays, his fears were all related to Baekhyun.

He was afraid Baekhyun would hate him. He was afraid Baekhyun would run away from him. He was afraid Baekhyun would get hurt. He was afraid on not making Baekhyun happy, and so on.

This couldn’t be healthy, he thought at the back of his mind. Baekhyun had always been his anchor from day one and when maybe his dependency to him might be dangerous, Chanyeol wasn’t really care enough to put so much thought into it. He knew that his heart and soul were not his anymore, it was Baekhyun and he was fine with it.

His life was practically revolved around the guy he loved, then so what?

He felt honored to be able to experience this feeling. It made him vulnerable, yes, but he also felt immensely happy.

Chanyeol didn’t want it to end.

He wanted it forever.

He thought that was why he was so afraid to lose it. So scared of the possibility of what would happen to him if Baekhyun was gone. Would he be broken? Destroyed?

He had experience it back then, and the scars were still there. He wasn’t ready to feel it again. He would never be ready.

That was why as soon as the words had left Baekhyun’s mouth, Chanyeol immediately had lost the ability to think clearly.

_ “I think we need to talk about the marriage contract.” _

Chanyeol’s brain immediately registered the worst scenario.  _ Baekhyun’s gonna leave him. _

The questions quickly filled his head. Why? Why? Why?

Was Chanyeol too overbearing? Was Chanyeol not good enough? Was the contract no as good as he thought initially? Or maybe the contract’s benefit wasn’t worth the risks Baekhyun had been receiving continuously for the past two days?

Baekhyun’s life was in danger, and for what? Money? Of course Baekhyun would back out. Chanyeol had put him into this situation, and Baekhyun had every right to--

“Chanyeol, shut up.”

Chanyeol pulled out himself from his self’s loathing thought momentarily as Baekhyun’s harsh voice reached his ears. He blinked and broke his empty-autopilot stare from the road. When he turned his head to the man in his passenger seat, Baekhyun was looking at him with determined eyes.

“I… I didn’t say anything,” Chanyeol finally managed to reply.

“You didn’t say anything but it was obvious your mind was running wild. Shut up. It’s not what you think it is, Chanyeol. I should’ve worded it better.”

What did that supposed to mean? Chanyeol currently didn’t have the capacity to think further.

Baekhyun touched his lap, and Chanyeol relaxed a bit. “I told you I love you, didn’t I?”

Chanyeol’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. Somehow, he could breathe easier although his brain was still mushy. He nodded in the end and kept his concentration on the road. But it wasn’t easy. His mind still wandered to the various scenarios that his brain could manage.

The silence in the car wasn’t too suffocating anymore when a call went through his phone. Baekhyun was the one who took Chanyeol’s phone from where he put it. His fiance looked into the screen and his brows creased.

“It’s Junmyeon,” he informed. “This is probably important. About the case maybe?”

Chanyeol nodded, eyes still on the road. “Put it on speaker.”

Baekhyun did what he said, and Junmyeon’s voice immediately filled his car. “Hello, Mr. Park?”

“You’re on my speaker, Junmyeon. I’m with Baekhyun but you can talk.” Chanyeol was actually too out of it right now. The day and night had been long and exhausting, and the fact that Baekhyun just dropped the bomb about their contract also added to his pressure. But he knew that Junmyeon’s must’ve had an important information. He didn’t really want Baekhyun to hear, but he had no choice.

“I’m with Joohyun at your office, Mr. Park. We’re trying to find some evidence to back up the suspicion you were talking about. Uhh… I think we find something. And…”

“What is it? Spill.”

Chanyeol’s demand wasn’t met for a few seconds. The line was silent for a while before there was a shuffle sound, like Junmyeon’s phone was being moved around, then there was a woman voice that Chanyeol was really familiar with. “Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol’s mind drew blank. “M-mom?” He blinked, then he looked at Baekhyun, who had the same reaction as him. “What are you doing there?”

“I was helping Joohyun and Baekhyun’s secretary. Can you come here now? We found something, and I think this is time for us to finally talk.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

There was no mistake. Baekhyun didn’t need to wonder for long, he knew that Chanyeol’s mom finally put two and two together. How? Baekhyun didn’t know. It just baffled him how fast the woman could catch up once he received the hint from Baekhyun a few hours ago. This meant that Baekhyun was right. Mrs. Park was a smart woman once she knew the gist of the problem. It only took her one hour to understand what was going on.

If only… if only he told her much sooner. If only Baekhyun knew back then what happened to Chanyeol. Chanyeol didn’t have to go through that alone for so long.

He heard Chanyeol exhaled a cursed. “What the fuck is happening?”

They were en route to Chanyeol’s office. By nature, Baekhyun felt the need to comfort his fiance. Chanyeol’s composure was crumbling down, so without thinking, Baekhyun reached to rub on his shoulder, willing it to relax.

“Hey,” he said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Chanyeol looked surprised. “I… I don’t know, babe. I’m going crazy right here.”

“Do you want to pull over?”

“No,” Chanyeol shook his head. “We need to get there fast. I’m sorry I couldn’t take you home right away.”

“Doesn’t matter. I know this is more important.”

“I just couldn’t understand why is my mom also there. She… she said we need to talk.”

Baekhyun unknowingly gripped Chanyeol’s shoulder a little tighter. Should he tell Chanyeol that he had told his mother about his problem with his stepdad?

But Baekhyun could never lie to him, and Chanyeol deserved to get some peace of mind. Because obviously even though the two incidents were targeted toward Baekhyun, Chanyeol was the one who took it the hardest. And this problem about his stepdad and mother only would break him more.

He let his hand wandered to his arm, and squeezed it. “Chanyeol, listen.” 

“What’s up? What’s wrong?”

The anxiety in his voice settled in the pit of Baekhyun’s stomach. “I…” he gulped. “I said something to your mom and that’s why… that’s probably why she told you that she needs to talk.”

“What do you mean?”

Settling his back to the comfort of the seat while his hand still stayed on Chanyeol’s arm, Baekhyun took a deep breath. “Your mom was talking about your stepdad being a nice and caring guy, and she didn’t understand why you can’t get along with him. I was just so… frustrated. Like, she really couldn’t see just how much you were suffering? I want her to open her eyes, so I told her… Nothing explicit, I just said that everything’s not always like it seems to be. I left it like that, and she picked it up that I was trying to say something.”

It was hard to see how Chanyeol reacted, so Baekhyun kept on going.

“I’m sorry if you think that I had crossed the line, but Chanyeol, I can’t just stay silent when you tried your hardest to take care all of the mess. You don’t deserve it. For more than fifteen years, you had to deal with that asshole, and it was time for her to know. So I guess I’m sorry, but not really.”

Only then Baekhyun dared to raised his head, and he only realized that his hand that gripped on Chanyeol’s arm was trembling out of anger.

Chanyeol still had his eyes on the road. The streetlight wasn’t enough for Baekhyun to see what kind of expression Chanyeol was wearing.

Closing his eyes, Chanyeol chuckled. “You made it sound so easy.” Then he turned his head to Baekhyun, smiling, but there were tears in his eyes. “I’ve been wanting to tell her for the past fifteen years. I couldn’t, but you did it in the first chance you were alone with her.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt anymore, Chanyeol. I figured I had to do it if you couldn’t.”

“And I appreciate it, really. Thank you so much, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun was supposed to be the one who comforted Chanyeol. This wasn’t about him, after all. This was Chanyeol’s problem, and Baekhyun should calm him down, assured him. But why, why did he find peace when Chanyeol was thanking him.

“I’m so sorry,” Baekhyun whimpered as he blinked his tears away.

Chanyeol seemed shocked. “Hey, babe, come on. Don’t cry.”

“I just want this to be over for you. You don’t deserve this.”

“But you’re here. You’re here with me, beside me. That’s all I need. That’s all I wanted.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

When they arrived at his office, the first thing that Chanyeol noticed was that there were more people in here more than it usually was. His sofa was occupied by his stepdad and Minki. On the guest chairs at his desk, there was his mother and Junmyeon, with Joohyun standing beside him. The only unoccupied seat was his own chair, waiting for him.

“What the hell is this, Chanyeol?” His dad got up from the seat. “Why did you want all of us to come?”

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows, and glanced at his mother. She didn’t say anything, sitting with her arms crossed.

If what Baekhyun said was true, did his mother really manage to know everything by now? About how Minhyuk tried to take over his father’s company by trying to win her heart? About how Minhyuk abused him because he could see how shitty the man was? About how he was doing it until now, not physically maybe, but definitely mentally? And about… the car accident that happened to Baekhyun?

Chanyeol shifted his attention to Junmyeon and Joohyun. The both of them were now standing side by side, seemed to be ready to reveal what they had found.

“Mr. Park, if you could let me.” Junmyeon bowed to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol nodded back at him, but his stepdad interruped. “Who even are you?”

“I’m Mr. Byun’s secretary.”

“Oh my God, shut up, Minhyuk,” Chanyeol snapped. “Please, for a minute.”

The man froze, while Chanyeol’s mother still stayed silent. Chanyeol knew that Minhyuk couldn’t do anything if his wife was right there.

“Okay,” Junmyeon cleared his throat. “We want to talk about the matter of Mr. Byun’s accident. We found out that the culprit--the one who hit Baekhyun’s car--was actually paid to do it.”

Baekhyun gasped beside him, and Chanyeol’s fist turned into stone hard. “Paid by who?” His voice was cold.

“When the suspect left the police station this evening after a long interrogation between him and the police, I decided to follow him, along with some men you assigned to be with me, Mr. Park. You were right. The man ended up told us everything when he thought that he was in immediate danger. Seems like the danger of getting beaten by some brutes were more terrifying than the fear of jail.”

“Again,” Minhyuk interferred. “Why do I have to listen to do this?”

Chanyeol was ready to land some punch, he had enough, but his mother beat him to it. The woman stood up and her cold voice made shiver run down his spine. “Shut up, Minhyuk. You have to listen to him.”

Everyone was stunned, and Minhyuk looked ready to flee out of the room.

“Continue, darling,” Chanyeol’s mom said to Junmyeon.

“As I said, the suspect told us himself that he was paid to do so. We already have the recording of his admission, so we have a clear evidence here.”

“Did he say who hired him?” Baekhyun spoke up for the first time. He looked angry and terrified at the same time, and Chanyeol swore this was the last time he’d let this happen.

“He didn’t only say, but he also provided the evidence.” Junmyeon took out his phone from his pocket. “This was the recorded phone call between he and the man who hired him.”

He pushed some buttons on his phone, and some muffled voice was heard.

_ “Okay, let me sum it up. So I need to wait for his car in San-Kotei Street intersection and crash his car.” _

_ “Yeah, you already got his plat number clear?” _

_ “Yes, Mr. Minhyuk. I have it.” _

_ “And how about breaking into his apartment?” _

_ “It’ll be taken cared of by my partner.” _

_ “Good. Contact me immediately after you finished the job.” _

The recording stopped there. Everyone could hear clearly that the voice in the recording was Minhyuk’s.

And Chanyeol never felt so much rage in him. A massive urge to hurt Minhyuk washed over him.

He felt Baekhyun’s fingers slipped through his. His fiance’s thumb kept on rubbing his palm, knowing full well that it was the only thing in the room now that could keep him grounded.

“That…” Minhyuk stammered, and his face was white as paper. Minki, sitting beside him, looked like he was ready to bolt out. “That must be a fraud. What the hell was that? It wasn’t me. Why did I want to hurt Baekhyun?”

“You tell me, Minhyuk.” Chanyeol growled.

“That’s not me,” Minhyuk grinded every word.

Junmyeon stepped forward again. “I suggest that we take this to the police and let them decided if this was real or not. If Mr. Minhyuk really was innocent, you don’t need to worry.”

“Even if the recording turned out to be fake, which I’m sure it’s actually real,” Chanyeol’s mother said, her voice still as tensed and cold as ever. “We still need to go to the police because I found something interesting, Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk looked visibly scared. “Sweetheart, what do you mean?”

His mom smiled, and Chanyeol never saw her more terrifying than this. “Hmm… I just found some record about the finance of this company that you took care of. There was many and large strange number there, I’m surprised that Minki, the finance manager didn’t realize. The record goes way back until the past six years, actually.”

That information almost staggered Chanyeol. Six years ago was the time that both he and Minki got into the company. While Chanyeol really wanted to take the finance manager position, Minhyuk insisted that he took the HR manager position instead, and gave the finance manager to Minki. Back then, Chanyeol didn’t think much of it. He didn’t really care as much as right now. And it made so much sense now. Of course Minhyuk wanted his son to fill that manager position so he could do anything to the financial of the company without getting caught.

Chanyeol and his mother fell into the bastard’s trap so, so easily.

“Wait, darling,” Minhyuk reached toward his wife. “That’s not true. Please listen to me.”

“I’m sure that’s not the only thing you did, Minhyuk,” his mother’s voice pierced the night. “But truth will always come out. I’m just stupid to be blinded until now. For fifteen years…” she choked, and looked away. Her gaze landed on his and Baekhyun’s way. “Go home, Chanyeol, Baekhyun. We’ll take care of this.”

“But, Mom.”

“Take Baekhyun home, okay? He needs to rest, sweetheart.” She looked so tired. And Chanyeol was reminded of how broken his mother was when his father passed away. His heart was breaking for this woman, strongest woman in his life. Here she was, being destroyed again by the one she loved, although for different reasons this time. But he knew that his mother would stand strong again, and this time, Chanyeol wouldn’t let any wrong men to be by her side to share her misery. “After all this passed, we’re gonna talk, yeah? You’ll tell Mom everything, right?”

Chanyeol ran toward his mother and hugged her, almost crushing her small figure with all the love he had for her.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

Usually, Chanyeol was the one who pulled Baekhyun, who led him, but this time he was totally on Baekhyun’s mercy. He let Baekhyun guide him.

When they arrived at his apartment, Baekhyun didn’t turn on the light and just kept guided him to sit on the couch while Baekhyun sat on the couch in front of him. There was an obvious distance and Chanyeol wanted to throw up.

The night had been unbelievably long. There was so much turn of events that he didn’t expect at all and all of it took a toll on him. He was tired, but he knew that there was still one thing that needed to be settled.

It was the talk between him and Baekhyun that got delayed. He was relieved that the problem with his stepdad and mother had seen the light. For now, he could forget about that matter. He had more important thing to do.

The silence between them only made Chanyeol feel even smaller.

“What are you thinking, Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol raised his head, and immediately he avoided his fiance’s eyes. Could Chanyeol still get to call Baekhyun his fiance after this  _ talk _ between them?

Yes, he could.

Right there and then, Chanyeol knew deep down he would never let Baekhyun go. If Baekhyun wanted to let go, Chanyeol wouldn’t. He would keep holding on. He would give Baekhyun time, protection, and assurance he deserved and Chanyeol wouldn’t let him go.

“What are  _ you _ thinking, Baekhyun?” he returned the question. Feeling brave, but his hands still trembled. “What do you want to talk about?”

Baekhyun took a breath so deep Chanyeol could see it. He looked hesitant at first, but then his fists on his lap got hardened and the words came out of his mouth. “I want to break the contract.”

Chanyeol’s heart didn’t even have the time to break into pieces because Baekhyun kept continue.

“Don’t take it the wrong way, Chanyeol,” he said. “Listen to me. I want to cancel it because I don’t want those… those rules to define our relationship. I want this to be real, I…” his voice cracked, and Chanyeol saw tears began to form in his eyes. “I love you, and I don’t want the stupid contract.”

Chanyeol’s heart started to beat faster. He wanted to run to hug the love of his life so much it pained him. But he stopped himself, he waited, afraid of allowing himself to get his hopes up.

But this was Baekhyun. Baekhyun who managed to take his heart and never gave it back from day one.

This was Baekhyun. Baekhyun who he hurt so deeply, but he had a big heart he managed to accept Chanyeol back.

This was Baekhyun. Baekhyun who stayed by his side, who helped him, who thought that Chanyeol had suffered enough.

And Chanyeol loved him and loved him and loved him.

Chanyeol got up, sauntering to where Baekhyun sat, squatting down until they were on the same eye level.

Chanyeol cupped both of Baekhyun’s cheeks. “Byun Baekhyun, you know how madly in love I am with you, how crazy I am for you. Since the first time I saw you, I want you forever. You already know that the contract is bullshit. Even if back then you reject my contract proposal, I’d still find a way to get your trust again one way or another. I’m sorry, babe, but you stuck with me even before you know. And I’m stuck with you, gladly. Just take me. With or without contract, I love you and I want it all.”

Tears streamed down Baekhyun’s face. He looked so ugly and cute at the same time, and Chanyeol loved him so much, so he kissed his forehead.

“I thought you were going to break up with me,” he breathed out. “I was gonna listen to your reason, but I wasn’t going to let you go. I want to be with you, I want to wake up in the morning beside you, I want to eat ice cream at 2 AM with you when you stressed out, and I’m sure as hell I want to build a family with you.”

“I would never eat ice cream at 2 AM,” Baekhyun hiccuped. He kept on sniffling and could barely open his eyes. “Stop making me cry.”

Chanyeol smothered a smile, then proceed to kiss every little inch of his face. The taste of Baekhyun’s tears was in his lips. “Of all the things I said, that's what you caught?”

Baekhyun finally looked at him straight in the eyes after he busied himself shedding all his tears away. He looked so vulnerable, and naked, and raw, and Chanyeol still thought he was beautiful.

“We’re gonna be a disaster couple,” Baekhyun sniffled, but there was a hint of a crooked smile on his lips. “We’re gonna fight all the time, but I still want you forever. Not just three years like in the contract.”

“You’re not gonna get rid of me, Baekhyun. Not in three years, thirty years, not in forever. Besides, let us be a disaster couple. We will fight and fight until the both of us satisfied. And after that…”

“After that…”

Chanyeol chuckled at how ridiculous they were. Here they were in the middle of dark living room, crying like a mess, pouring their hearts out, pledging eternal romantic sappy love, but in the end, it came to this.

He was glad that he found Baekhyun, someone so compatible with him, someone who would match his pace without even trying.

“After that, we’re gonna do something that I’m gonna show you soon,” Chanyeol said, voice dropping slightly lower.

Baekhyun visibly swallowed. His eyes and nose were still red, but behind all that, Chanyeol could see the desire that had been built up by train of events in the past few days, months even.

“Are you gonna show it here?” Baekhyun asked, slightly choked.

And Chanyeol answered it with scooping his fiance up and carried him to his bedroom.

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

“You’re gorgeous,” Chanyeol’s compliment was the first thing uttered between them since they entered the bedroom.

Before then, there were only shared labored breath between them. After all, Baekhyun’s mind was too mushy to even able to form a sentence other than  _ I want you I want you I want you _ . And his mouth was too dry to voice it out. So he could only breathed out a desperate whine as Chanyeol got rid of their clothes one by one.

All of it felt so fast and agonizingly slow at the same time.

“Hold me, please,” Baekhyun whimpered.

“I’m sorry but I need to do more than hold you right now, babe.”

Chanyeol didn’t say anything anymore as he pressed his open mouth to Baekhyun’s neck, and trailed down to his collarbone. He took his sweet little time, kissing and licking every single inch of Baekhyun’s skin he could reach until Baekhyun couldn’t help but shuddered under his touch. His body gradually felt overstimulated, every nerve in him was standing on end.

“Ch… Chany… hnng…” Baekhyun was unable to hide the neediness dripping in his voice. “Chanyeol, please.”

Hearing his name came out of Baekhyun’s mouth obviously made Chanyeol become bolder. He lowered himself until his face was right above Baekhyun’s still clothed bulge. The cotton only added the friction when Chanyeol sucked on it.

When Chanyeol got rid of his brief and licked on his naked cock, Baekhyun’s back bowed, and he heard someone sounded crazed, only to realize that it was his own voice. Thoughts had left his head, and Baekhyun’s hip bucked.

“Fuck, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun exhaled a shaky breath. “You have to… stop or else…”

Chanyeol raised his head and crawled back upward so he could plant a greedy kiss on Baekhyun’s lips. He didn’t say anything, like he came up only to shut Baekhyun’s mouth and go back to his task like his life depended on it.

From where Baekhyun lied, he could see Chanyeol frantically, with trembling hands, picked up a bottle of lube and started to cover his fingers with the liquid.

“Give me a minute,” Baekhyun swallowed. “Goddamn…”

Chanyeol only spared him a glance, but Baekhyun already saw it. There was a whirl of desire in his eyes, like he was barely hanging on and ready to snap.

For a second, Baekhyun was afraid what would happen to him if he surrendered his body completely to Chanyeol’s mercy. He felt like it would be too much, would he pass out? Because he knew sex with Chanyeol would be so good, amazing even. Yet at the same time, that very reason was what made him trembling with anticipation. He just couldn’t stop rocking his hip, desperate for Chanyeol to touch his lower half.

“Impatient, aren’t you?” Chanyeol smirked as he returned to his position, right in between Baekhyun’s thighs.

Once again, Chanyeol took his time. He was looking down at Baekhyun, practically ravishing him with his eyes alone. Baekhyun didn’t know if someone’s eyes could turn more darker, but Chanyeol’s seemed to be exactly like that.

“I can’t believe you’re mine,” Chanyeol’s voice was thick, and it made Baekhyun’s heart jumped as well as made his cock twitch. Chanyeol noticed it and his grinned widened even more. “I’m going to start, babe.”

That was all Baekhyun wanted.  _ Just get on with it, _ he wanted to say but the words died down in his throat when he felt his hole get stretched when Chanyeol’s first finger entered him. 

Baekhyun gasped, and a shiver ran across his skin. And as if the fingers weren’t enough, Chanyeol wrapped his mouth around Baekhyun’s cock.

“Fuuuck,” Baekhyun groaned. Did he say Chanyeol would be amazing? He was wrong, because the man was incredible and he hadn’t even put his cock in him.

Baekhyun threw his hands above his head, and his head thrashed. Sweat started to dotted his skin as he felt his body was on fire. He didn’t know anymore what Chanyeol was doing to him. All he knew was what Chanyeol really had done a great job of not making him feel any kind of pain. He kept on licking and sucking on his cock with leisurely pace as he worked on his second and third finger along his hot inner walls.

Baekhyun was losing his mind.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun gasped. “I think it’s enough…”

Chanyeol stopped immediately with his mouth and retreated all his fingers slowly. Only that Baekhyun finally looked at his fiance again and he had goosebumps all over. Because right there, he thought he was the only one who felt good, but Chanyeol visibly affected too. His body and face was slick with sweat and his cock looked impossibly hard with precum beaded on its crown. He rolled the condom and lined himself right before Baekhyun’s entrance.

Baekhyun swallowed and felt his heartbeat picked up again, his thighs tensed around Chanyeol’s waist.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol leaned forward to give him a sweet kiss, a blatant opposite to the current air around them. “Relax for me, love.”

And just like that, with Chanyeol’s heavy breath in his ear, Baekhyun’s thighs that had held tightly around his fiance’s waist loosen. That was Chanyeol’s clue to push himself into Baekhyun.

Immediately, Baekhyun felt the white-hot sensation bombarded him. He clutched on Chanyeol’s shoulders hard as his fiance waited until Baekhyun regulated his heavy, labored breath. And as if it wasn’t perfect enough, Chanyeol stroked on his cock, relaxing him and making him almost explode at the same time.

“I’m ready,” Baekhyun whined.

He opened his eyes only to be met with Chanyeol’s eyes on him. Affection surged within him and his lust was forgotten for a second he was drown on his fiance’s orbs. The eyes that always honest to him, always full of love, always be his guiding light. Eyes that said a thousand of  _ I love you _ to Baekhyun right now.

“Me too, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun felt a tear down escaped his eyes. “Me too.”

And it seemed to be the only signal Chanyeol was waiting for. He swung his hip back and moved forward. Baekhyun threw his head back, his mouth hung opened with pleasure. Chanyeol wasn’t in better condition either. From the sound he had been letting out, he seemed to be losing control as he found the rhythm that made it painfully pleasurable for the two of them.

“There,  _ fuck _ ,” Baekhyun almost yelled. With every thrust, he could feel his walls tightened even more and it also took a major effect on Chanyeol as he kept on letting out delicious moans. There was a surge of satisfaction on Baekhyun that he was the one who made Chanyeol go crazy.

The last hard thrust was all it took for Baekhyun to finally explode, white strings of cum fell into his abdomen as he couldn’t keep himself to stop twitching. His vision turned white and his back bowed as his head trashed with abandon. He didn’t realize that Chanyeol followed him right after until Chanyeol almost fell on top of him, but he held his body up with his hands on both sides of Baekhyun’s head.

After a few silent seconds, with no ability to speak for both of them, Chanyeol pulled out carefully and wrapped the condom. Then he fell right beside Baekhyun, not caring that they were still sticky and dirty.

Chanyeol wrapped an arm around his waist and planted a kiss on his sweat coated forehead.

“All those ten years I spent on being depressed because I denied my feelings toward you, I could’ve spent it inside you. What a fucking dumbass.”

Baekhyun’s loud laugh was the first voice he managed to let out after the incredible sex they had.

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

Chanyeol wanted to drown and hang on the bliss they had as long as possible, but knew that he definitely couldn’t. There was too much at stake if he kept on prolonging the problems they had right now.

He would love to just lie down in bed all morning with Baekhyun, but his phones had been ringing for numerous times and Chanyeol knew he couldn’t hold out any longer.

With a groan, he pushed himself to open his eyes. His irritation was gone immediately as he was welcomed with a sight so beautiful he started to tear up. Baekhyun’s peaceful face.

He couldn’t believe he would get this view every morning from now on. He just wanted to marry him right the fuck now.

Memories began to flood in and a smile was in order. He just made love to the love of his life last night. His first and eternal love. It was crazy, he thought, how their relationship came around in the end. It felt so unnecessary long, but Chanyeol wouldn’t have it any other way.

He couldn’t believe that this day actually came. The day where he got what he wanted. He had Baekhyun, his stepdad and stepbrother being kicked out into jail soon, and his mom finally free from all the lies.

Another ring from his phone cut his train of thought off. Once again he groaned, rather loudly it seemed, because Baekhyun jerked and his eyes cracked open.

“Chanyeol?”

“Shit, babe, sorry. Go back to sleep, it’s just my phone.”

“Mmh, what time is it?” Baekhyun rubbed on his eyes.

“I don’t know. Eight, I guess?” He took his phone, and saw Junmyeon’s name on it, deciding to reject his call for now. He would call him later.

“Are you going out? Take me too please, I’m going to work today.”

“What, no.” Chanyeol finally moved into sitting position, letting the comforter fell to his lap. “Aren’t you still in pain?”

Baekhyun chuckled. “I’m not going to take another day off work just because my ass is in pain, idiot.”

“No, I mean, your head.”

“Seriously?” Hugging his torso, Baekhyun laughed with his eyes shut. “You fucked me senseless last night, and you ask if my head is okay right now?”

Chanyeol should’ve felt embarrassed. Wasn’t he the one who said that Baekhyun’s safety was his priority? But in the end, he guessed he was still a man with a decade worth of pent-up frustration. He couldn’t think straight when Baekhyun was in front of him looking like he was ready to be devoured.

Great, now he was hard again just by remembering what happened last night.  It was all he could do to not ask Baekhyun to have a morning round right this second.

“Well, can’t blame myself, I lost my goddamn mind last night. Even if the world crumbling down when I were inside you, I couldn’t care less.”

“I’m kidding anyway,” Baekhyun grinned. “I’ve been fine since yesterday morning, so you don’t have to worry.”

“I can’t help it, babe. I’ll always worry about you.”

“Speaking about worries.” There was a flash of uncertainty in Baekhyun’s eyes. “What about my proposition last night? About breaking our contract?”

Chanyeol totally forgot about that. “Babe, I told you, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ll be with you forever. That contract was only—“

“I’m still uncomfortable that the contract exist.” Baekhyun cut him off, slowly he got up until he was eye to eye with him. “I want the contract gone. I don’t care about you being my company’s sponsor or me being your stakeholder anymore. I’ll keep my company going by myself, and I’m still going to be with you. So you don’t have to worry about me backing out, you’re still going to be the CEO.”

“This is not about me being a CEO since the start, you know that, right? Never, Baekhyun.” Chanyeol gritted his teeth. He really started their relationship wrong. What kind of stupid reason that he blurted out back then. “It was just my excuse to make you mine.”

“I know that now. But still… I want the contract gone.”

Chanyeol couldn’t believe that this was happening. Here Baekhyun was, saying that he wanted a  _ real  _  relationship with him. Without rules. Without bounds. Just them. After all these years, Baekhyun would be truly his. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

“That’s what I want.” Baekhyun stared at him. His eyes were hard and serious. Like he wanted to assure Chanyeol that everything was okay. That Chanyeol had absolutely no reasons to be afraid that Baekhyun would run away. Screw contract. They were going to jump on a cliff, free falling together. “But I’m still your fiancé, right?”

“You bet you are. I’m going to marry the fuck out of you, Byun Baekhyun.”

Chanyeol heard Baekhyun’s laugh against his chest. “That was so unromantic. You’re such a loser, Park Chanyeol.”

“Only for you.” Chanyeol kissed the crown of his head. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“Stop it. You’re fighting a losing battle.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaah it ended oh my god.....  
> Thank you so much for everyone who take the time to read this. I appreciate all of you. I'm sorry that I cannot reply to all the comments, it's just kinda hard with how busy I am with work (me being able to finish this is already a miracle)  
> But god, this is the first chaptered fic that I managed to finish for like 4 years since Fortune Teller I think.  
> I hope all of you enjoy this. I'm sorry if this is not the ending you guys expected and maybe there's some things I still couldn't manage to put here, but please know that chanyeol and baekhyun lived really happily <3
> 
> Let's meet again in my next stories!


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